The Art Of Victimizing Circumstance
by OnlyAnonymous
Summary: Lily, formerly employed at Torchwood 1, is on a quest for revenge against one Owen Harper.  Where will her quest lead her, and what will she learn about her family history along the way?
1. New Hobbies

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EPISODES IN THIS STORY HAVE BEEN RE-ORDERED TO ACCOMODATE AN EXTRA CHARACTER.

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My name is Lily. I was employed at Torchwood 1, until the Cybermen came. I wasn't one of the useless sods in the office either. I was a field agent. My job was to go out and collect alien technology, and bring it back to Torchwood tower. I was in America during the battle of Canary wharf. I was tracking down an energy signature in the Sonora dessert. I had been disobeying orders, going out to find this one. I knew it was a long shot, find source of the signature or lose my job. But I went, because the energy signature was brilliant. Could only have come from alien technology. It was, a crashed ship, but the U.S. government had gotten to it first. I thought I would lose my job for sure. I didn't even know about the Cybermen, until I arrived in Pheonix a few days later. Of course, I got on the first flight out, but when I got home, Mother was gone. I was on the list of the dead. I had no idea where she'd went to, or even if she was still alive. I looked for her, but she was never found. They assumed she was dead.

I guess my story really started when I was 11 years old. I found a little blue box, and I went on the ride of my life, with a man called the Doctor. A day among the stars. I'd gone home, and told my Mother, and she'd smiled, that smile she always smiled, and patted my head, saying, there really is so much more out there to be seen.  
>I applied to Torchwood as soon as I was able. They were shocked of course, none of the general public knew about Torchwood. My Mother had told me about them. How she knew, I only found out much later in my life. So they really only had two options, recruit me, or wipe my memory. They recruited me, recognizing potential. I worked there for one year, before the place was destroyed in the battle. But, I suppose, that's not my story. That must be the prologue. THIS story, the one I'm telling now, began in a bar, a year after the Cybermen.<p>

I was just sitting there, doing nothing. I had gotten a job in an supermarket. The girl who used to hunt down alien technology, working as a cashier. Ironic really. I was thinking, and reflecting, when this man walked up to me.  
>"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked me.<br>"Sure," I said. I wasn't flirting, really. I was just a bit short on money, and a paid for drink is a paid for drink.  
>He smirked. "What are you having then?" he asked.<br>"I'll have a coke," I said.  
>His face fell a bit. "A coke, really?" he said. I shrugged.<br>"I'm not too fond of hangovers, and I've got things to do tomorrow," I said.  
>He bought me my drink, and then two more, trying to make small talk. What's your name, where do you work, your hair's very pretty, that kind of thing. I finished my third drink, and got up to leave.<br>He sat there for a few minutes, before actually registering that I was walking away.  
>"Where are you going?" he asked, running out the door after me.<br>"Home," I said shortly.  
>"But I bought you three drinks," he said.<br>"That you did," I said.  
>"Doesn't that entail a bit more gratitude?" he asked.<br>I stopped, looking at him. "Not really. I gave you permission to buy me drinks, I didn't tack any extra promises on the end," I said.  
>He sighed. "Well, I need to test it out anyway," he muttered to himself, reaching into his coat pocket. I stepped back, tensing to run. He looked at me.<br>"No, no, no, don't go anywhere, just watch," he said, bringing up a perfume bottle. I narrowed my eyes, and held my breath, leg muscles tensing.  
>But he brought the bottle up to his own face, and sprayed it twice. He tucked it away, smiling at me.<br>"Well?" he said.  
>I dived at him and kissed him hard.<p>

The sick thing was, I remember every detail of that night. And even sicker, it was good. I remembered enjoying it. But I knew it was just the effect of whatever drugs had been used. I woke up, in my bed, naked and alone. He had long gone, and good for him too, because once I started thinking clearly, my thoughts were all on revenge. I used what I could. Hacked into the police database and ran through faces, looking for him. But he wasn't there. I had nothing else to go on, so I just left it be. What else could I do? It was a half-hearted attempt in the first place. I ended up finding him eventually, but in the oddest way.

I was in the hospital, in the ER, six months later. I'd forgotten all about him. Put it behind me. I was the kind of person who would hang onto something for as long as it took to figure out if I could avenge it, and if I couldn't with a convenient level of ease, I just let it go. So there I was, in for a minor injury. I'd sprained my wrist, in the stupidest way imaginable. Slipping on a patch of wet ground. My life was so boring since Canary Wharf.  
>And then this group of people had rushed in, hauling a man in with them, yelling for help. I almost ignored them, but I glanced at the man they were holding, and I recognized him. The man from the bar. Oh, he was beat up bad, but it was him. Unforgettable face he had, something only a mother could love. Butt-ugly.<br>I got up, and I walked after them. He was in surgery for an hour. Animal attack apparently. I found his name, peeking over the shoulder of one of the men who had brough him in while they were filling out the information form. Owen Harper he was. And that was just the beginning. The beginning of my story, which started as revenge. My life had been boring for a year and a half. Now, I had a hobby. And I would get so much more.


	2. Sabotage

Once I had his name, it was so easy. I found his apartment, and sabotage began. I waited until he was out of the hospital, so he would notice, so it would annoy him. Little things, things that hardly mattered. I like to start out that way. Hardly causing an inconvenience. His tires kept going flat, for no particular reason. No punctures, the air was just gone. I pumped it out. And I watched him when he found that. He scratched his head the first time, and called a girl to give him a lift. He filled them up again, and Voila. Repeat. It drove him mad, I could tell just from seeing his face when he would see the tires. His responses ranged from the head-scratching, to kicking the tires and screaming in frustration, to just sighing quietly and going to get a hand-pump.  
>When he was gone during the day, I sabotaged his life inside the apartment that he occupied. Childish pranks. I slipped dried worms in with the spaghetti. I watered down the milk. I sabotaged his plumbing (The sewage was funny). I emptied out the mouthwash, and replaced it with white vinegear. I cut the toes out of most of his socks. I hung toilet paper all around his house, making it impossible to get in, etc. etc. etc. I had more fun then than I'd had in my entire life. Revenge was sweet. Eventually, he installed tripwires, and burglar alarms, and all sorts of inconveniences. But I was trained to track down alien technology. I could disable a solar-powered Judoon particle gun in thirty seconds. A burglar alarm was so easy. It was laughable.<p>

"I'm telling you, it's a poltergeist," Owen said.  
>"And I'm telling you, it's not," Gwen replied.<br>"Well what else can it be? I've installed all kinds of security things, and none of them work. They all stay in perfect condition, and none of them ever go off, and yet this stuff still goes on. The camera's don't pick anything up. The place stays the same twenty-four/seven,"  
>She stared at him skeptically. "Have you tried staying up and watching for it?" she asked.<br>He nodded. "Yeah, on saturday leave, I stayed up. I didn't sleep, I just watched," he said.  
>"Oh, that's why you looked so tired sunday," she said, giggling.<br>He glared at her. "It's not funny, it's killing me."  
>She managed to stop laughing. "Fine, we can probably get Jack to let us take some equipment to scan for stuff like that," she said.<br>"Thank you," he said.

It was evil, I know it was. But I couldn't resist. I moved into the apartment just down the hall from his. So, I just happened to see the oddest sight. My good friend Mr. Harper and his lady, Gwen Cooper her name was, hauling a load of obviously alien technology into his apartment. They came out a few hours later, packed the stuff up, and left. I sat, and I thought. What was an idiot like Owen Harper doing with alien technology. So I did the obvious thing. I spied on him. Previously, I had just been causing him trouble. I hadn't tried to learn more about him. Now, I got interested in the life he led outside of his apartment.

I followed him everywhere. And I immediately found something. He went into a building, every day. It was by the water, and I couldn't figure out what it was. So I did the brave thing. I went in.  
>The door was locked, so I fished a hairpin out of my hair, and promply unlocked it. Inside was a desk, with a computer and some papers on it. There was a door, leading out of the room, behind the desk. The room was empty. I walked behind the desk, peeking into the other room. There was a man making coffee inside. He turned, noticing me.<br>"Can I help you?" he asked.  
>I smiled. "Yes, I'm looking for Owen Harper?" I said.<br>His gaurd went up immediately. "I don't know anyone called Owen Harper," he said.  
>I stepped a little closer. "Well he comes in here every day. Pale guy, dark hair, wears jeans and a black jacket?" I said. Not my best description ever.<br>The man shook his head. "Nope, sorry, I don't know him," he said.  
>I smiled. "Thanks anyway," I said, turning to leave. I walked out of the building, and back to my car. I closed the door, making a decision. It was time to have a talk with Mr. Harper.<p> 


	3. A Little 'Talk'

I picked the lock on the door to his apartment, and then went into a room just off the hall, waiting. I waited all day, until it got dark. I still waited.  
>It was past midnight when he got home, looking exhuasted. He walked right past the room I was in, heading for the bathroom. He went in, and I stood, waiting. A few minutes later, he came out, heading for the kitchen. I followed him, watching as he peered into the fridge. I'd thought of all kinds of dramatic ways to announce my presence while I'd been waiting. But I didn't figure myself to be the dramatic type, so I settled for something simple.<br>"Hello Mr. Harper," I said.  
>He spun around, alarmed. "Who's there?" he asked. I stepped out of the hallway into sight.<br>"Just me," I said, wondering if he would recognize me.  
>"And who're you?" he asked.<br>"No one important. I just have a few questions," I said.  
>He closed the fridge, sauntering over to the table, completely recovered from the shock of me being there. He was good, I would give him that. He sat in a chair, gesturing to the other.<br>"Well if you're gonna be asking me questions, can I get your name first?" he asked, gesturing for me to sit. I walked over to the table, but I remained standing.  
>"No you can't," I said.<br>He sighed. "Well it was a nice try. What do you want?" he asked.  
>"You go into a building, down by the docks, every day. What is it? What's inside?" I asked.<br>He sat up straighter. "See, the thing is, I come home to find a mysterious woman in my house, I have absolutely no idea who she is, and she starts asking me questions right away, I think that something's a bit off. I'm not telling you anything until I know who you are," he said.  
>I sighed. "Oh well, that one was worth a shot," I said, grinning wryly. I unbuttoned the pouch, around my waist. He tensed, and I looked up.<br>"No, wait, don't go anywhere," I said, smiling. "Just watch."  
>His eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, you," he said.<br>I flicked the dart at him, hitting my mark perfectly. He plucked it out immediately, but the second it was in for was enough. He scrambled out of the chair, going for the phone. I stood by the table, completely motionless. He picked it up, and then dropped it, peeking at the phone jack beside the stand, before looking back at me.  
>"Bugger," he said, collapsing. I smirked, congratulating myself on having prepared for all eventualities. I had unplugged the phone.<p>

I tied him into the chair, as it seemed he was going to be giving me difficulties. He would be out for approximately thirty minutes, so I had time to pop by and get one more thing from my appartment. It was something I'd scavenged from the remnants of Torchwood 1, before the other branches of Torchwood seized most of the technology that hadn't been destroyed. It was a little bottle, with about two tablespoons of blue liquid left inside. I went back into Owen's apartment, and sat down across the table from him, and waited.  
>About ten minutes later, he stirred. I rushed over, grabbing his face and tilting it back. His eyes eyes popped open, looking around in alarm. I pinched his nose, forcing him to open his mouth, and then dumped the contents of the bottle down his throat, still holding his nose. He choked a bit, and then swallowed. I let his face go, sitting across the table from him as I waited for the effects of the drug to kick in.<br>"What did you just give me?" he asked.  
>"A drug," I said. "I has some really complicated name that I don't want to get into, but it forces you to tell the truth," I said. I checked my watch. "It should start to take effect in about five minutes," I said.<br>He sighed, leaning his head back against the chair. "What do you want?" he asked.  
>"I already told you, I want to know what's in that building," I said.<br>"Why?" he asked.  
>I shrugged. "I'm curious."<br>"Seriously? You're going through all this because you're curious?" he asked.  
>"I'm curious and I have a bone to pick with you," I said, checking my watch. Three minutes.<br>"It's been you, hasn't it?" he asked.  
>"What's been me?" I asked.<br>"You're the one who's been deflating my tires. And hanging toilet paper all over my house," he said.  
>"I might have done that," I said.<br>He looked at me for a couple of minutes. I checked my watch.  
>"Alright, what's your name?" I asked.<br>He didn't say anything for a second, and then he choked. "Owen Harper," he said.  
>"Good. And where are we?" I asked.<br>"My apartment," he said.  
>"Very good. That's all I need really," I said.<br>"What's it doing? It's like... it's like I need to answer, or I can't breath," he said.  
>"That's exactly what happens Mr. Harper," I said.<br>"How does it work?" he asked.  
>"Where do you work Mr. Harper?" I asked, ignoring his question.<br>"In that building you mentioned before, and all over the rest of Cardiff," he said. That bit of information trimmed down the list of questions I would have to ask to get my answers.  
>"What is your occupation?" I asked.<br>"It's kind of hard to sum up," he said.  
>I was getting a bit impatient. The thing with the serum was that you could work around it, like he was doing. It made my work just a bit harder.<br>"Do you work for an organization?" I asked.  
>"Yes," he said, looking a bit more nervous.<br>"What is the name of the organization?" I asked.  
>He didn't answer. I looked at him. "Your going to suffocate unless you answer," I said.<br>"I really can't tell you," he said through gritted teeth. He breathed again, so I assumed that that was the truth.  
>"Answer my question. What is the name of the organization you are employed at?" I asked.<br>He shook his head. I waited. We sat there for a few seconds. I watched them tick by on the clock. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Twenty. Thirty five. His face was turning red. I leaned forward. "You really should just tell me," I said. He glared back at me.  
>He didn't answer. I looked at the watch. 50 seconds. His chest moved, struggling to draw breath.<br>"Is it worth dying for?" I asked. He looked panicked now. He bounced in the chair, trying to get out. "It doesn't matter, it won't stop until you answer me," I said.  
>He started breathing again. "Torchwood," he said.<br>I froze. "Torchwood?" I asked slowly. He nodded. A smile spread over my face.  
>"Who's in charge of your branch?" I asked.<br>"Captain Jack Harkness," he replied.  
>I fished my phone out of my pocket. "What's his number?" I asked.<br>He stared at me like I was insane.


	4. Hired

There was a knock on the door. I looked up from where I was sitting, behind Owen, pointing a gun at his head.  
>"Come in," I yelled. The door opened, and I heard footsteps in the hall. A man walked into the light.<br>"Put your hands up," I said.  
>He complied, stepping forward again. "Captain Jack Harkness?" I asked.<br>"That'd be me," he said, smiling. He looked at Owen. "Friend of yours?" he asked Owen, grinning.  
>"Yeah, I s'pose you could say that," Owen said uneasily.<br>He looked back at me. "Nice way to introduce yourself, really. Pointing a gun at my tied up friend's head," he said.  
>I narrowed my eyes. "I need to talk to you," I said.<br>"Then talk," he said. "But could you please lower that? Because I'm not armed..."  
>I narrowed my eyes further, scrutinizing him. I took the gun away from Owen's head, though I didn't put it away.<br>I gestured to the chair. "Sit," I said. He sat. "You're in charge of Torchwood?" I asked.  
>He nodded.<br>"Which branch?" I asked.  
>He looked at me. "Wait, first of all, how do you know about Torchwood?" he asked.<br>"I was employed at Torchwood 1 before the battle of Canary Wharf," I said.  
>He sat back. "So what do you want with us?" he asked.<br>I looked from him to Owen and back again. Jack raised his eyebrows.  
>"I need a job," I said.<br>Jack burst out laughing. "What?" I asked. He gestured to Owen. "You came in here and tied him up and pointed a gun at his head because you want a job?"  
>"She drugged me too," Owen said. He turned his head to glare at me. "Twice."<br>Jack chuckled. "You did all that because you wanted a job?" he asked.  
>"She didn't know I was Torchwood, she just had a bone to pick with me, and she was curious about where I was going every day," Owen said.<br>"You were following him?" Jack asked. I shrugged. He looked at Owen. "And you told her about Torchwood?" he asked.  
>"Well, apparently she already knew," Owen said. "And like I said, she drugged me."<br>"Can I have a job, or not?" I interrupted.  
>Jack sat up straight. "What is your previous experiance with Torchwood?" he asked.<br>"I was a field agent. I went out and collected alien technology to bring back to base," I said.  
>"Background?" he asked.<br>"I don't have one," I said.  
>"What, Torchwood was your first job?" he asked.<br>"Yes," I said.  
>He raised his eyebrows. "How'd you manage that? Did they contact you?" he asked.<br>"No, I went to them," I said.  
>His eyebrows crept up a bit further. "Why didn't they wipe your memory?" he asked.<br>"I'm a Class 5 telepath," I said.  
>He sat back again, regarding me.<br>"Wht's a Class 5 telepath?" Owen asked.  
>"A being with telepathic abilities, strong enough to create a telepathic link through touch," Jack said. "The link can remain open for a while after it's created, but not for long."<br>"Oh," Owen said, nodding.  
>"How much training do you have?" Jack asked.<br>"None," I said.  
>"None?" Jack asked.<br>I nodded. "Torchwood 1 said I didn't need any," I said.  
>He leaned forward. "You're an instinctive Class 5 telepath?" he asked. I nodded.<br>He smiled. "Well, we could use you, that's for sure," he said.  
>"So I'm in?" I asked. He nodded, getting up to leave.<br>"Owen, you can show her the base tomorrow," he said. He stopped, back-tracking.  
>"I almost forgot. What's your name?" he asked.<br>"Lily," I said. "Lily Neferati."


	5. The Ghost Macine

I untied Owen, who stood, stretching.  
>"Was I really that bad?" he asked.<br>"What do you mean?" I asked, looping the rope neatly around my arm.  
>"That night," he said. I stopped.<br>"You were awful," I lied.  
>He smirked. "You didn't seem to think so then," he said.<br>"Wake me up tomorrow when it's time to go," I said, walking towards the door.  
>"Oi, I don't remember where you live," he said.<br>I turned, grinning. "Four doors down, on the left," I said.

He knocked on my door at 5:30 the next morning. I had gotten approximately two hours of sleep.  
>He drove, and I followed him, as I'd done before. We went into the building, and Owen ducked behind the counter, tapping a red button. A patch of the wall slid away, revealing a door. He pointed at the button. "Please take note of the button, that's how you get in," he said, before walking through the door. I followed him into a corridor, which sloped down steadily. We turned a corner, coming to a halt in front of a door. Owen punched in a code, and the door opened.<br>"The door code is A26V9610," Owen said. "If you forget it, then you're shit out of luck, so remember it."  
>"A26V9610," I repeated under my breath.<br>We walked through the door, into a cage-like area. Owen opened the door to that, and we stepped into a wide open space. There was a metal tower, going up, through the roof in the center of the building. There was water leaking down from above, into a puddle around the base of the tower. There was a rail, separating the tower from the rest of the facility, which I thought was smart. There was a woman sitting at a desk, upon which was one of the most elaborate electronics set-up I'd ever seen. Jack was there, along with a woman I didn't know.  
>"This is Toshiko Sato, or Tosh, she's our 'technical expert'," he gestured to the woman at the workstation. Toshiko looked up when she heard him. "Tosh, this is Lilith Neffer-feffer," he said.<br>"Lily Neferati," I said, shaking her hand.  
>"Nice to meet you," she said.<br>"This is Gwen Cooper," he said, gesturing to the woman other woman. "Hi," she said, smiling and shaking my hand.  
>"And you've already met Jack," he said.<br>Jack nodded at me. "Good to see you here," he said.  
>"I've got it," Toshiko said, and everyone's attention was immediately draen to her screeen. "This is the feed from the station camera. Gwen grabs the kid. She's got his jacket, and then he just slips out," Tosh said, the footage showing on her screen.<br>Jack picked up a device Toshiko's workstation. He walks over to Gwen who was watching the monitor.  
>"You okay with this?" he asked her, and I had no clue what they were talking about.<br>"And then?" Gwen asked.  
>On the monitor, Gwen was standing very still, holding the device in her hands, the jacket on the floor at her feet. Moments later, Jack and Owen appeared on screen. "Jack and Owen arrive. Then, nothing. Sorry," Tosh said.<br>"No, wait. It was as real as this is. More real. I didn't just see that boy. I could ... I could hear what he was thinking, I could feel it. Like I was lost," Gwen said.  
>A man walked up and put a cup on Toshiko's workstation. Owen looked at Gwen.<br>"Intense emotion can be part of a neurological event. Hallucinations, dementia..." Owen said.  
>"I wasn't hallucinating, Owen. And I'm not bloody senile," Gwen said.<br>"You pushed this button which caused this apparition moment?" Jack asked Gwen, fingering the button.  
>"Yeah," Gwen said. Jack moved to press the button.<br>"Jack, no!" Owen said.  
>"Jack, please don't!" Gwen said "No!" Toshiko said all at the same time.<br>"As if!" Jack said.  
>"But that's how it felt. Like an apparition. A ghost," Gwen said. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what was going on by then. They had an alien device, Gwen had pressed a button and seen an apparition.<br>"Toshiko, where do we start?" Jack asked.  
>"The guy you were chasing, I've got lots of CCTV, so tracking him down is gonna be easy. The little boy? You said there was a name on the card around the little boy's neck?" Tosh asked Gwen.<br>"Flanagan. Tom Erasmus Flanagan," Gwen said.  
>"Unusual name, that'll help. Run a full check. Births, marriages, deaths, criminal record, passports. However long it takes, wherever he is, we'll find him," Jack said.<br>"Found him" Owen said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Flanagan, Thomas Erasmus. 74 Brynaeron Terrace, Butetown," he said closing the phonebook and turning around. "He's in the phonebook," Owen said.

Gwen and Owen had gone out to Tom Flanagan's house, and I was watching Jack, getting familiarized with the procedures at this Torchwood.  
>"Coffe?" someone asked from behind me. I turned.<br>"Yeah thanks," I said. I stopped recognizing the man. "Ianto?" I asked.  
>"Lily? he said, sounding amazed.<br>"You survived Canary Wharf," I said.  
>He shrugged. "I was at home, sick day. You?"<br>"I was in America," I said. "How's Lisa?" I asked, remembering his long-time girlfriend.  
>His got an odd look on his face. "She's fine," he said. "Are you still living by yourself?" he asked,.<br>I chuckled. "Yeah, you know me," I said. He laughed with me, and Jack looked over at us.  
>"You've met before?" he asked, not sounding surprised in the least. I nodded.<br>"Yeah, Ianto and I were working at Torchwood 1 at the same time," I said.  
>Jack nodded, and looked back at his screen. "Okay, our friend with the alien machine in his pocket is one Sean Harris aka Bernie," he said. I looked over as the door opened, Gwen and Owen coming through.<br>Gwen looked at Jack. "You find him?" she asked.  
>Jack nodded. "Yep," he said.<p>

Gwen was putting up a photo of Sean Harris up on the board. I would have to ask, but I guessed she worked in the police force before Torchwood. She turned back to us.  
>"What he's doing with an alien machine is anyone's guess. Nineteen years old. String of convictions - burglary, shoplifting, credit cards," she said.<br>Ianto had a bag of food in one hand, and a carrier full of coffee cups in the other. He held the bag out for Jack to take his meal.  
>"Do warn me if he's dropping in," Ianto said.<br>"The theft conviction - he was stealing tires off a car when the owner turns up, gives him so much grief, he apologizes. Starts putting them back on again which is when the police show up! And here - shoplifting conviction. Bottle of vodka and three Pot Noodles," Tosh said, flicking through a file.  
>Owen was playing a large arcade video game machine. I was tempted to unplug it, but we were working. Didn't need that at work.<br>"A criminal mastermind. Got anywhere with that mystery object?" Owen asked.  
>"Alien, of course ... Gorgeous nanotechnology, makes NASA look like Toys 'R' US," Jack said.<br>I picked the thing up and looked at it. "Well, you've really narrowed things down, haven't you?" Owen said, finishing the game.  
>"At the station it was doing that," Gwen said, gesturing to the devicer in my hand, which was beeping softly. "When I held it, it lit up and went mad," she said.<br>"It's not doing it now, is it?" Owen asked.  
>I handed Gwen the device. "No," she said.<br>"So where does this Bernie live?" I asked Jack.  
>"Splott," Tosh said.<br>"Splott?" Owen asked.  
>"I believe estate agents pronounce it "Sploe"," Ianto said. I smiled at him.<p>

We were paired up in teams. Tosh and Gwen, Jack and Ianto, and me and Owen. I wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't going to complain. If he got to annoying, I would tell him to shut up and then ignore him.  
>Tosh and Gwen were sent to his house, and we were left to visit random locatins around Splott, and see if we could find him. The first place we went to was a bar and pool hall.<br>We went up to the bartender.  
>"Hi, we're looking for a Sean Harris, or Bernie. Do you know him?" I asked.<br>"He's barred,' the man said.  
>"Do you know where we could find him?" I asked.<br>The man shook his head. I nodded. "Thanks anyway," I said, walking back out.  
>We went to several more places, with much the same answer everywhere we went. No one seemed to like Mr. Harris at all, and no one knew where to find him either.<br>We met up with the rest of the team except for Jack by a bridge.  
>"Did you find anything?' I asked Gwen and Toshiko while we waited for Owen to get back with some food.<br>Gwen shook her head. "No, nothing," she said.  
>"Bernie Harris, the Scarlet Pimpernel of Splott," Owen said, walking towards us, carrying a bag.<br>"Tell me about it. Give me aliens any day," Tosh said.  
>"I guess you and Lily didn't have any luck?" Gwen asked.<br>"Nope, but I got five pasties for a pound - anyone?" Owen asked.  
>I noticed Jack coming up. He did not look happy.<br>"If I wanted days like this I'd've stayed in the police," Gwen said, confirming my earlier suspicions.  
>Jack reached us and the rest all turned to them.<br>"We did try, Jack," Toshiko said.  
>Owen held out a pasties bag for him. Jack sighed and left. We hesitated, before following him. Jack headed for the bridge. Jack stopped under the bridge.<br>"What's he gonna tell us? 'Got it off an alien down the market,'" Owen said.  
>"Where are we going?" I asked.<br>"Back to the railway station. Controlled experiment. We replicate the original events as far as possible. Observe and analyze the results," Jack said.  
>"What? I have to do that again?" Gwen asked.<br>"Someone does – any volunteers?" he asked. He turned around and tossed the alien device at Owen. Owen caught it. "Whoa!" Owen said.  
>We walked away, Gwen still protesting. "We don't know what it is, what it does," she said.<br>"Nope," Jack said.  
>"Jack, this could be dangerous," she pressed.<br>"Yeah," Jack said.  
>"Uh, I don't mean to be picky, but I think I can spot some flaws in this," Gwen said.<br>"I'm sorry, I thought you gave up looking for a 19-year-old kid this morning? I figured maybe you were after something more exciting. A bit of a challenge," Jack said, irritated.  
>Jack turned and continued on his way. "Guys, come here!" Owen said.<br>We kept walking. "Owen come on!" Tosh yelled back.  
>"I'll get him," I said, turning back to the bridge.<br>"Owen?" I asked. His attention was completely on the device. He looked far away.  
>I waved my hand in front of his face, getting no response. I didn't know what the device did any more than Tosh or Gwen or Jack, except that it showed you things apparently. The way I saw it, I had two options. I could go and get the others, and leave him here, or I could try to find out what the thing was showing him. I touched my finger to his temple gingerly, and reaching out to his mind.<p>

We were still under the bridge. Owen was standing, holding the device, and I had my finger at his temple. But it was nigth now. Owen was looking at a woman, who was leaning against the wall.  
>"He's a rotten bastard!" she was saying. "My mam was right, his eyes are too close together! I said, 'Just a dance,' but he wasn't having a bar of it. I shouldn't have gone outside with him, I should have known better!" she said.<br>"What's your name?" Owen asked.  
>The woman didn't answer.<br>"Lizzie! Lizzie Lewis..." came a man's voice. A man stepped out under the bridge. He was following Lizzie. Scared, Lizzie looked at him. She was terrified. And so was Owen. I frowned. Why was Owen scared? The man moved closer to Lizzie. "You're a bad one, Ed Morgan! The girls said not to go with you, and they were right," Lizzie said.  
>Lizzie backed away from Ed Morgan. He continued to follow her. Owen was terrifed. I could feel it, burning through the link I'd made.<br>"Am I bad? Am I a bad boy? You're a big girl now, Lizzie. You can make your own decisions. That's why I like you. You're not like the others. You don't follow the herd. You're smart. Don't you like it that someone can see how smart you are? Hmm? I can see you, Lizzie. The way you really are," Ed Morgan said.  
>He held her head and kissed her. Then, she started struggling against him, but he continued to kiss her, forcing himself on her. She freed herself from him, and he hit her across the face.<br>Owen flinched, trying to move. But he couldn't. All he could do was stand and watch.  
>Lizzie screamed. Ed grabbed her by her hair with one hand and took out a switchblade in the other. Owen was helpless to do anything but watch. I could feel him. He was angry, and scared. Very scared. But it wasn't his fear. He was feeling Lizzie's fear. Another emotion crept into the mix. Glee. A strange, twisted kind of pleasure, and I realized he was feeling Ed Morgan as well.<br>"I don't want to hurt you, I don't," Ed said.  
>"I-I told my mam I'd be home by nine!" Lizzie said.<br>"Shhhh..." Ed shushed her.  
>He pulled her off to the dark end of the bridge. Owen and I watched them. He was breathing heavily, affected by her fear. "PLEASE! Oh, God, someone help me! Help me! Help me ... !" Lizzie screamed.<br>I jerked my finger from his temple as the vision ended, and it was day again. I backed away.  
>The others were walking towards us. Gwen rushed over.<br>"Owen? Are you all right?" she asked.  
>Owen was still breathing hard, panting. "She ... she was so scared! I-I-I couldn't ... I couldn't move! I couldn't help her," he said.<br>Gwen held out her hand and took the device from Owen. Owen looked at me, still breathing heavily.  
>"You were there. What did you do?" he asked.<br>The other's all looked at me. I shrugged. "I linked with you. It was a temporary connection, it was broken as soon as I lost physical contact with you," I said.  
>"Let's go," Jack said, walking away again. I looked at Owen once more, and then followed.<p>

We were in the hub, about an hour after Owen and I had shared the vision of Lizzie and Ed Morgan.  
>"The first time, it happens to Gwen. A boy, at the railway station," Jack said.<br>Toshiko was looking through another file. Gwen was adding a photo to the glassboard.  
>"Who's now in his 70s, alive and well, and living in Butetown," I said of the boy she'd seen.<br>Owen was sitting on the couch going through file folders.  
>"The second time it happens to Owen. Like me, you didn't just see it, you felt emotions that weren't yours," Gwen said.<br>Owen nodded. "She was terrified," he said.  
>Gwen looked at Jack.<br>"The victim's name was Lizzie. It was maybe 40, 45 years ago. Toshiko, do we know anything about her yet?" Jack asked.  
>Toshiko pulled up the information from the computer.<br>"Elizabeth Lewis. Lizzie. Only child of Mabel Ann Lewis of Hafod Street. Died March 29th, 1963. Raped and murdered on Penfro Street, under the bridge. Seventeen years old," Tosh said.  
>"He killed her," Owen said.<br>"No-one was brought to trial," I read over Tosh's shoulder.  
>"She told her Mum she'd be home by nine. So what about Ed Morgan? That's what she called him. 'You're a bad one, Ed Morgan'. Look him up," Owen said.<br>"It's kind of a common name," Tosh said.  
>"What's the connection? Where did they come from? It's like being haunted," Gwen said.<br>"Quantum transducer!" Jack pointed to the computer image. "Look."  
>Toshiko pulled her headset off and rushed over, abandoning Owen's request to look for Ed Morgan. Owen started digging through the files, and I joined the others at the computer.<br>"Wow. I'd kill to get one of those. Transducers convert energy from one form into another. They're in headphones. They convert electrical signals into sound. And they're in this device too converting quantum energy and amplifying it," Tosh said.  
>"Into ghosts?" Gwen asked.<br>I nodded. "Of course. It's emotion. Human emotion is energy. You can't always see it, or hear it, but you can feel it," I said. Jack nodded his approval, and Toshiko went to sit next to Owen.  
>"Ever had deja vu? Felt someone 'walk over your grave?' Ever felt someone behind you in an empty room? Well. There was. There always is,' Jack said.<br>"A ghost," Gwen said.  
>Jack nodded.<br>"What else have we got on Lizzie Lewis, what else have we got?" Owen asked.  
>Toshiko got up and headed back to the computer.<br>"Um. 1963 - the records aren't always that detailed," Tosh said.  
>"What about newspapers? Witness statements, coroners' reports," Owen asked.<br>"Owen!" Jack said.  
>"What do you want me to find exactly?" Tosh asked.<br>"Well, there must be something!" Owen said.  
>"For the case to be re-opened, you need new evidence, or a new witness," Jack said.<br>"I saw it happen," Owen said. he pointed at me. "So did Lily."  
>"No, you didn't! Niether of you were there. You saw the echo of a moment, amplified by alien technology. So just tell me how that will play in court?" Jack asked.<br>"Well, since when did we care about court?" Owen asked.  
>"Tomorrow we go looking for Bernie Harris and find out what he knows about this ghost machine. We do our job and find where this thing came from. Now, go home," he said.<br>Jack turned and headed out. Owen didn't move. "Gwen! With me!" Jack said. Gwen got up and followed Jack. Owen grabbed a bunch of papers and the file folders. He obviously had no intention of letting it go. He looked at me.  
>"Are you going to help?" he asked.<br>I shook my head. "Jack's right, there's nothing we can do," I said.

I tracked Owen's car the next morning. All Torchwood personel had tracking devices in their vehicles, that much was the same here as at Torchwood 1. I figured he was bound to go after Morgan, and someone needed to keep him from killing the bastard.  
>Owen went here and there and a lot of other places, and I followed from a safe distance. As far as I could tell, he was going through phne book adresses, using the process of elimination to find Morgan.<br>He was outside of 46 PRYSE AVENUE, and I was sitting in my car, on the opposite side of the street. He had not noticed me so far, so he was either ignoring me, or was very absorbed in finding Mr. Morgan.  
>He got out of his car, and I waited a minute, and then stepped out of mine, and followed him, head lowered. He walked up to a door and knocked. No one answered the door, so he checked the window, and then moved back to the door, and peeked in the mail flap. I slowed my walk so I wouldn't walk past him.<br>"Mr. Morgan?" Owen asked.  
>Ed Morgan opened the door.<br>"What do you want? Well?" Morgan asked.  
>"Mr. Morgan," Owen said, holding up an ID which I was 93 percent sure was fake. "I need to come in."<br>Morgan opened the door, letting him in, and I stood outside the door, waiting.

A few minutes later, I heard Morgan yelling.  
>"Get out of my house! Get out of my house!" he yelled.<br>Owen came out of the house, and Morgan slammed the door behind him.  
>Owen stood there for a few minutes, panting. I waited until he looked a bit calmer before speaking.<br>"Did that do you any good?" I asked.  
>He spun around, and saw me, leaning against the wall.<br>"What are you doing here?" he asked.  
>"I followed you. I had a hunch you'd come looking for Morgan," I said.<br>He let his breath out in a agitated puff, and headed back to his car. I jogged after him.  
>"You should let it go," I said. "It won't do you any good holding onto it."<br>"And you're so very good at letting things go," he said sarcastically.  
>I shrugged. "My case is different. I can actually do something. You, on the other hand, can do nothing, short of putting old Ed Morgan out of his misery."<br>"So your not even slightly bothered by it?" he asked, rounding on me.  
>I looked him steadily in the eye. "Not in the least Harper. There is nothing I can do, nothing anyone can do, to help Lizzie Lewis. She's dead, and he's free. That's just the way it is. There is absolutely no sense in beating myself up about it."<br>He turned, and walked back to his car, and I turned in the opposite direction, going to mine. I reached my car, and opened the door when I heard Owen.  
>"Bernie Harris!" I heard Owen say. I turned abruptly, to see Owen chasing a man. I took off after them.<br>"Oi!" Owen yelled. I chased after them silently.  
>Bernie bumped into an old woman causing her to drop her grocery bag.<br>"You mind out, boy!" the woman scolded him. It slowed him down. He got up and ran, Owen close behind, and me catching up. Owen ran into the old woman's grocery bag.  
>"Sorry! Sorry!" he said, continuing after Bernie. I ran around the grocery bag.<br>Up ahead, Bernie turned a corner, and Owen followed. I turned the corner a few seconds later, running through an already disturbed game of soccer.  
>"Go on! Kick his head in!" one of the kids shouted.<br>Bernie ran through the walkway pass, hopping on some garbage bins and jumping over a brick fence. Owen followed him over the wall, and I kept running down the streets, hoping I was going the right way.  
>"Mam, there's a man in the garden!" I heard a girl say, and I ran faster, breath coming in short gasps now. "There's TWO men in the garden!" the girl yelled behing me.<br>I came to the end of the block, and saw an alley leading out. Bernie burst out of it, and I ran into him, knocking him to the ground. I held him as well as I could. Owen caught up, "Bernie Harris!" he said, panting.  
>"Who?" Bernie asked.<br>I stood, hanging firmly onto his arm. "That wasn't a question," I said.  
>Bernie clutched his heart.<br>"Don't hurt me please, I got asthma," he said.  
>"I'm not going to hurt ya. I'm going to bloody kill ya," Owen said.<br>"He's joking," I said to Bernie reassuringly.

We were in a bar, waiting for the others to arrive.  
>"Why do they call you 'Bernie'?" Owen asked.<br>"I burned my neighbor's shed down when I was twelve," Bernie replied.  
>"What for?" Owen asked.<br>Bernie shrugged. "I was just having a fag. Got a bit carried away," he said.  
>I rolled my eyes. "Charming," I commented.<br>Jack, Gwen and Toshiko walked up to us. "Well, this is cozy," Jack said. "I hope he bought you flowers," he said to Bernie.  
>They sat down around and near the table.<br>"If this is about the dodgy fags, I don't know what happened to 'em," Bernie said.  
>Gwen tossed the device to Jack who caught it. Bernie stopped when Jack put the device on the table.<br>"Well. Is it worth knowing, we're probably the only people you can tell," Jack said.  
>Bernie started talking immediately. "Me and a mate was using this lock up, down on Moira Street. Used to belong to this old guy. Soft in the head, he was. Still loads of his stuff in there but we chucked most of it. There was this old biscuit tin full of foreign coins, weird bits of rock, and that. Thought it might be worth something. I might take it down the Antiques Roadshow. Yeah." Owen laughed. "You don't know. Cash In The Attic, and all that. So I takes the tin home with me and that thing switched itself on. It makes you see things. Real things. Real people. I was down the Old Wharf, in the bay. I seen this woman, with a bundle, something wrapped up. It was night time and she was putting it into the water all secret like. It was weird cos it was like I was her, somehow. She was scared, because she knew what she was doing was wrong. I knew, without seeing. It was her baby, wrapped up. Dead. She hadn't told anyone. Then she just ran away. And I realized, I knew her. She's old now, but she lives up by the Catholic Church in Splott. So I goes up to see her. Told her what I'd seen. She give me money not to tell anyone else."<br>"You blackmailed her?" I asked disgustedly.  
>Bernie shook his head. "She offered. Look, I've seen things you wouldn't believe. There's the old bridge, on Penfro Street. I saw a man ... and a girl, from ages ago. He was following her back from a dance, along the canal ..."<br>"Yeah," Owen said. "I know. I saw it. He doesn't know anything, does he?" Owen said to Jack.  
>Jack picked up the device.<br>"Bernie, it's been fascinating meeting you," Jack said.  
>Jack turned and headed for the door, and we all stood up to leave. "Oi, where you going?" Bernie protested. "That's mine! You can't just walk off. I've got rights. So you don't want the other half, then?" he asked.<br>We all stopped and turned to look at Bernie.

We were in Bernie's flat. I was sitting next to Gwen, looking at a fragment of rock, which I quite liked, and Jack was examining the second half of the alien device.  
>"The other half," he said.<br>He handed it to Toshiko who took it and looks at it. Jack turned and looked at the us. Gwen was looking through the other items in the tin container while Bernie sat nervously biting his nails.  
>"Weird bits of rock. Foreign metal," Gwen said.<br>"I like the rocks," I put in, picking up another one.  
>"Alien rock. Alien money. Driftwood, washing in through the rift," Owen held up a can of baked beans and smiled. "So, Bernie. Was this thing in two halves when you found it?" Jack asked.<br>Before he could answer, Toshiko snapped the two pieces together. Bernie straightened uncomfortably.  
>"I've got it ... Like clicking Lego together," Tosh said.<br>Jack took the device from Toshiko and looked at it. Gwen took it from Jack. Toshiko ducked under Jack's arm and headed over to the tin to look at the items inside.  
>"You split this into two pieces, didn't you?" Gwen asked.<br>"C'mon, you lot," Owen said, ready to leave. He headed out. Toshiko took the rocks from me, and put them back in the tin, looking at Bernie.  
>"We'll take these too, if you don't mind," she said.<br>She headed out the door after Owen, and I followed.  
>"Come on, you lot!" Owen shouted from the hallway.<br>I walked out after Tosh and Owen.

We were walking to different vehicles. Owen was going to drop me off outside of Morgan's house so I could get my car. Owen turned his car alarm off as Jack and Toshiko headed for the SUV. "Jack! Jack, I need to speak to you," Gwen yelled from behind.  
>We turned to see her looking at the beeping device, no longer in two peices.<br>"Gwen! No!" Jack yelled, running towards her. She looked at the device again, and froze, eyes locked on it. Jack reached her and grabbed the alien device from her.  
>Owen and and I ran over. "Christ, Gwen, what were you thinking?" Jack said.<br>Gwen stared at Owen. He stared back.  
>"What?" he asked.<br>She shook her head. "Nothing. We should go," she said, walking towards the SUV.

We pulled into the parking lot outside a bar. I looked at Owen accusingly.  
>"You're supposed to be dropping me off to get my car," I said, eyes narrowing.<br>He sighed. "I need a drink. You can out wait out here in the car if you want, I won't be too long. I'm just having one," he said. I stuck a finger so close to his face he went cross-eyed trying to keep it in sight.  
>"One drink. I'm coming to get you if you're not back out in twenty minutes. It' freezing out here, and I want to get home," I said, putting great emphasis on the one at the beginning.<br>He nodded. "I'll be right back," he said. He closed the door, and I marked the time.  
>I pulled my coat around my shoulders more tightly and waited. After a few minutes, another car pulled up, and Toshiko got out, going into the bar. I was tempted to follow her, but I decided not too. Owen had twelve minutes left before I would come in and get him.<br>He walked out with Tosh eleven minutes later. Tosh walked over to her car, and Owen walked over to me.  
>"There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" he asked, smiling. I pointed to the steering wheel.<br>"Let's go Harper," I said.

I watched him drive away, and got into my car. I stopped as I saw Morgan step out of his house, and turn, walking away from me. I stepped back out of my car, and followed him, wondering what he was doing out of his house at this time(Nevermind when it was this cold out). My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Jack.  
>"Lily, where are you?" he asked. It sounded like he was in a car.<br>"In Splott, I'm following Morgan. I was getting my car, and he came out of his apartment and started walking."  
>"Keep following him, we'll be there," Jack said, hanging up.<br>We walked for a few minutes, and I noticed where we were heading. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing Jack.  
>He answered. "Yeah?" he asked.<br>"It's me again, I think he's heading to Bernie's flat," I said.  
>"We know, we're on our way, can you take care of things til we get there?" Jack asked.<br>"Yes," I said.  
>"Good, just hold on," he said, hanging up.<br>Ed Morgan turned into Bernie's lot, and I saw Bernie and Gwen ahead. Morgan pulled out a switchknife.  
>"I knew you'd find me in the end. I knew you'd come for me. I've been waiting for years," he said to Bernie.<br>Gwen stepped out of the flat. Morgan looked at her.  
>"Have you come for me, too? I used to see it in people's faces when they looked at me. They knew! I tried to hide, but ... they knew," he said.<br>Morgan looked around him.  
>"I haven't been outside for so long," he said.<br>"Edwin ..." Gwen said.  
>"Little bitch. You're all the same! You'll blame me, make me the bad one!" Morgan said. I approached him from behind carefully.<br>"Edwin, put the knife down," Gwen said, eyes darting to me, and then back to Morgan.  
>Morgan moved closer to Bernie, and I looked behind me, seeing Jack and Owen taking the same approach I was. I moved to the side. "Mr. Morgan," I said, drawing his attention to me.<br>"I've wasted my life for you," Morgan said, looking at me.  
>"We won't tell anyone, no-one else is gonna know. Stay calm. I won't breathe a word. You'll never see me again. I promise," Bernie said, drawing Morgan's attention back to him. Owen and Jack were close now.<br>"I know. That's why I came. It's what you want, isn't it?" Morgan asked.  
>Jack and Owen grabbed Morgan from behind. Gwen pushed Bernie down to the pavement.<br>"Got him!" Jack said.  
>"Got the knife," Owen said. I eyed him uncomfortably.<br>"Are we okay?" Jack asked.  
>"I've got it," Owen whispered. I moved a bit closer to him.<br>"ARE WE OKAY?" Jack yelled.  
>"Yeah, yeah, we're okay," Gwen said.<br>Owen stood on the side with the knife. He looked at Morgan, and my stomach turned over uncomfortably. "I've got the knife. I've got the knife, Edwin," he said.  
>Gwen looked at Owen and slowly stood up.<br>"You were so close. You were going for her, weren't you? Just like with Lizzie," Owen said.  
>As Owen got closer to Morgan, Jack backed them away from him. "I've got the knife, Edwin. You were so close," Owen said. He puts the knife up to Morgan's cheek. "As close as I am now." I walked closer, holding out my hand. I looked at Jack for permission, but he held a hand up for me to stop. I lowered my hand, but I didn't move away from Owen.<br>"Why should you get away with it?" Owen asked.  
>"Owen," Jack said warningly.<br>"You said you were sorry, that you didn't want to hurt her, but you didn't stop," Owen said.  
>"Owen!" Jack shouted.<br>Owen kept the blade against Morgan's cheek.  
>"What if I didn't stop? Would I be sorry?" Owen said.<br>"Owen, no!" Gwen said.  
>"I don't know," Owen said.<br>He stood like that for a moment, knife pressed against Morgan's cheek. Then he moved the knife away. Gwen moved in and took the from Owen. Owen released his hold on the knife.  
>"Go and deal with Bernie!" Jack said angrily to Owen.<br>Owen moved away, and Gwen smiled with relief.  
>"I've got the knife," she whispered. She looked at Jack. "No-one died," Gwen said.<br>Jack released his hold on Morgan.  
>"You stopped it from happening. You got here in time!" she said in relief.<br>"I knew you'd come for me," Morgan said, stepping away from Jack and grabbing Gwen.  
>"No!" Jack yelled, grabbing Morgan again, but it was too late.<br>Gwen stepped away and Ed fell to the ground. He'd been stabbed with the knife that Gwen had still been clutching. Owen rushed over to help. Gwen stood staring at Morgan in shock.  
>Owen opened Morgan's shirt to get to the wound.<br>"He's arresting!" Owen said. I put a finger on the back of his neck, sending him one simple request.  
>{Let him go,} I sent. He looked up at me, and I took my finger off of his neck, stepping back.<br>"Help me. I was too close, I couldn't stop it! Oh, God!" Gwen said, still in shock.  
>She looked down at the knife and her bloodied hands.<br>"Oh, God!" she said, dropping the knife and looking at her hands. "I just - I just ... I couldn't ... I couldn't stop it," she said.  
>"It's alright Gwen," I said. She looked at me, and I caught her eye. "It wasn't your fault."<p>

We were all in Jack's office. Gwen looked horrble, sitting in the seat in front of Jack's desk, a blanket wrapped around her.  
>"He wanted to die. He would have found a way, no matter what," Tosh said.<br>"I screwed up, I know I did. But um ... I didn't kill him. I could of, but I didn't," Owen said.  
>"No. I did," Gwen said, crying.<br>"Tosh is right. It could have been anyone," Jack said.  
>Tosh looked at the alien device.<br>"What about this?" she asked.  
>"The problem with seeing the future is you can't just sit and look at it. Got to try and change things. Make it happen differently," Jack said. Jack picked up the device and looked at it. He shook his head. "It's not meant for us. All these ghosts. We'd be lost. Sun's nearly up," he said, holding the device out. "Ianto," he said.<br>"Secure archives?" Ianto asked.  
>Jack nodded. Ianto finished his drink and took the device from Jack. He turned and headed for the secured cabinet in the back of the room. "Come on," Jack said, looking at Gwen.<br>They left, and everyone else dissolved away unitl it was just me and Owen, alone on the room.  
>"Why'd you tell me to let him go?" Owen asked.<br>I didn't reply for a minute. "I guess... he deserved it," I said.  
>"I thought you didn't care about justice for anyone except youself," Owen said. I shook my head.<br>"No. If I can avenge something, I do it. As long as it isn't too much trouble," I said. We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then I stood. "Come on. I still have to get my car."  
>Owen sighed. "And I'm stuck driving you there," he said. I nodded.<br>"Yep," I said.


	6. Cyberwoman

We were in the hub, playing a game of basketball. Well, we were playing with a basket and a ball. Music was blaring, and everyone was shouting at each other and laughing. We were playing teams, three to a team. I was with Gwen and Owen, and the other team was made up of Jack, and Tosh. Myfanwy was above, trying to snatch the ball and fly away with it. She was the unofficial third member of Jack and Tosh's team.  
>"OK! Come on, Gwen!" Owen yelled down from the rail.<br>Jack picked up Gwen and pushed her out of the way, Tosh and Jack working together to block her.  
>"Gwen, this is for you, baby!" he yelled, chucking the basketball. Myfanwy narrowly missed catching it on the way past. Jack caught the ball.<br>"Just get it off him!" Owen yelled. "Take if out of his hands! Oi!" he continued yelling.  
>Gwen batted the ball out Jack's hands, and threw it back to me to keep Jack from reposssessing it. I threw it up to Owen as Tosh dived at me.<br>"Oh, come to Daddy!" he said, catching it. He dropped it in the basket. "YES! First round's on you, boss," Owen said, pointing at Jack.  
>Jack shrugged. "Girls, get your handbags!" Owen said.<br>"Of course, that was an illegal move," Jack said.  
>"Totally illegal!" Tosh chimed in.<br>"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, yeah. Losers. Bye," Owen said, joggin out the door.  
>Jack tossed Ianto the ball on the way out. I paused. "Are you going to come Ianto?" I asked. He shook his head.<br>"Nah, I've got some stuff to do here," he said.  
>I smiled. "Alright, see you later," I said, walking out after the others.<p>

We were in a pub, and Jack was telling us about one of his 'friendly encounters'.  
>"And she said, "D'you know how difficult it is to find a man in this city? He had a nice flat, all his own hair, so frankly, a couple of tusks, I can live with!'" Jack said.<br>We all laughed, and then a pager beeped.  
>"Ianto's mate," Owen said.<br>"UFO sighting over Cardigan Bay. Seven calls to the emergency services," Toshiko said.  
>"Oh... Can we at least finish our drinks, please?" Owen said.<br>"Sure. Take ten seconds," Jack said. Owen got up to go as Gwen attempted finish off her pint. I laughed, getting up to run after the others.  
>"So, who's driving if we do have to go and contain an alien 'threat'?" I asked, making air qoutes around the threat.<br>"Ooh, can I?" Tosh asked.  
>"Nope," Owen said.<br>"But I never drive," Tosh protested.  
>Owen sighed. "Please don't start playing the no fair card, because it isn't fair," Owen said.<br>"All I'm saying is, once in a while, I'd like to drive!" Tosh said.  
>"And all I'm saying is no!" Owen said.<br>"Why not?" I asked, coming up on Owen other side. He looked from me to Tosh, both of us glaring at him while Jack chuckled behind us.  
>Owen raised his hands defensively. "Look, I've shared cars with women before. I know what'll happen. There'll be an emergency, we're all raring to go, I jump in, what do I find? Seat's in the wrong position, the rear view mirror's out of line and the steering wheel's in my crotch. Time it takes to sort it all out, aliens'll have taken Newport," Owen said.<br>Jack laughed out loud this time.  
>"Well I wouldn't mind driving every once in a while either," I said.<br>"What about a rota? Different people drive on different days," Gwen said as we walked into the office.  
>"We're a secret organisation, hunting alien technology from an underground base," Jack said, pressing the button to open the door. "And you want a rota for who drives?" he asked.<br>"Just trying to help," Gwen said.  
>Jack led way through door. He punched the door code in, and we walked into the hub. He immediately started giving out orders.<br>"Tosh, call up the radar within a 50-mile radius of the Bay for the last six hours. Gwen, check with that man - Neil, I think his name was, voice like Sean Connery - at Jodrell Bank. See if they picked up any chatter around the time of the sightings. Owen, access the airspace provision over Cardigan Bay, also any RAF flightplans, see if it's just a case of mistaken identity, and Lily, start preparations for the Speech, in case it's real, and Plan B in case it's real and hostile."  
>I nodded, going over to weapons storage and pulling out the neccesary equipment for Plan B, and grabbing the Translator Device for the Speech(Jack's explanation to alien life forms that we are a sentient species with rights, and they are violating our airspace, and they scared the locals to death, and yada yada yada, could they please leave in peace?).<br>"Is that Neil? It's Gwen Cooper from Torchwood. I know, we're always after something, aren't we?" I heard Gwen saying.  
>"Ianto! Would you work some coffee magic?" Jack asked. I looked up at Ianto, in time to see Jack making prayer hands and being cute. Ianto headed up stairs to where the coffee lived.<br>I hauled the stuff out of the storage closet, and the lights flickered.  
>"What's happening?" Gwen asked.<br>"Internal power drain," Tosh said.  
>"What's causing it?" I asked, putting the equipment down and joining the others at Tosh's desk.<br>"Something big to drain that amount of power. Tosh, run a system diagnostic," Jack said.  
>"Actually... We've been having generator problems all evening. I was down there checking earlier. Couple of bits of cabling have come loose. I thought I'd fixed it," Ianto said. We all turned to look at him. "Let me have another look."<br>"Fine. Go check," Jack said.  
>"Do you Want any help?" I asked.<br>"It's fine," Ianto said.  
>I watched him walk away, and after a few minutes, the power came back on.<br>"Got it," Tosh said, showing us the picture of the spacecraft on her screen.  
>"That's a UFO?" Gwen asked.<br>"Only just!" Owen said.  
>I elbowed him. "It's fascinating, don't knock it."<br>"Arkan leisure crawler, first generation. Collectors' item, don't see many of those around these days. Tosh, send a polite message saying great to see them, but could they please get the hell out of our atmosphere they're spooking the locals," Jack said.  
>"Done!" Tosh said.<br>"Shouldn't we be apprehending it? Investigating it?" Gwen said. I snorted, and she looked at me, so I inspected my nails.  
>"Oh, please. You interrogate an Arkan, you'll be in there for a month. And that's just the first question. They are so boring. Besides, they're mostly made of liquid, the cells would be a mess," Jack said. He turned to me. "You can put the equipment away Lily, we won't be needing it," he said. I sighed, and started hauling the stuff back to storage.<br>As I closed the door, the lights flickered again.  
>"There it goes again!" Owen said.<br>"Ianto, we've got another dose of darkness. You found anything?" Jack asked into his wrist device.  
>Ianto didn't answer.<br>"Ianto? I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels!" Jack said.  
>"Power's draining to the storeroom at the bottom of the building. Looking for human heat signals. We've got..."<br>"Two signals?" Owen asked.  
>"So assuming one's Ianto..." I started.<br>"Who's the other?" Gwen finished.  
>There was a pause.<br>"I'm thinking we're under attack," Jack said, turning and heading for the aromory. "Security's been breached. We assume battle protocols," he said.  
>"That's impossible! Nobody can get in without triggering seven separate alarms," Tosh said.<br>"Yeah, well, looks like our system needs to be upgraded," Jack said.  
>"I'll head down and look for Ianto," I said.<br>"I'll come with you," Owen said. "Is that alright?" I asked Jack.  
>"Keep your comms open at all times. Any doubts, shoot first. Priority is to find Ianto," Jack said.<br>I nodded, heading out with Owen close behind.  
>We headed into a dark section of the base, and we got out our torches. I let Owen take the lead. "What's down here?" I asked.<br>"Normally? Nothing," Owen said.  
>"Progress report?" Jack asked.<br>"Signs of activity at the eastern end of the main corridor," Owen said into the comm.  
>"Whatever it is, it's interfering with the comms," Jack said over the crackle of the comms.<br>"We're going in to have a look," I said.  
>"Jack? Tosh?' Owen asked into his comm. He looked at me. "No comms," he said.<br>"We're on our own, then," he said.  
>At the end of the corridor was a door. Owen peeked through the window while I covered the hall.<br>"What the hell is going on?" Owen asked.  
>"What's the matter?" I asked him.<br>"I can't see well enough. But there's something in there. Some kind of operating table. Get the bolts," he said.  
>I unbolted the door, Owen unlocked another latch.<br>"OK?" I asked.  
>"Yeah," he replied. "OK, one, two..." we kicked door in unison.<br>Inside the room, the lights were flickering madly. In the center of the room, was what looked like a metal operating table.  
>"No! No, no, no, no!" Owen yelled over the noise.<br>"What is it?" I asked.  
>"It's wrong. It's beyond wrong! It shouldn't be here! Turn the thing off! TURN IT OFF!" he screamed. I punched a big red button, and the thing powered down.<br>The comms crackled.  
>"These things brought down Torchwood One. But they were all destroyed. Why is there one in our bloody basement?" Owen was still yelling.<br>"Just tell me what it does," I said.  
>"It's the remnants of a conversion unit," he said.<br>My eyes widened in realization. "The technology for upgrading a human to a cyberman," I said. Owen nodded grimly.  
>"If I don't hear something within 30 seconds, I'm coming down there!" we heard Jack over the comm.<br>"Jack, it's Lily. The comms dropped out. We're back online now," I said.  
>"Any sign of Ianto?" Jack asked.<br>"No. But we have found parts of a Cyber conversion unit. Fully powered up and working," Owen said.  
>"This is no time to be kidding around, Owen," Jack said.<br>"I'm deadly serious! I dunno why it's here, or how it got here. But that's what's draining our power," Owen said.  
>There was a pause.<br>"Jack? You there?" I asked.  
>"I want you two back up here immediately!" Jack said.<br>"We still haven't found-" I heard a thump and Owen dropped to the ground, unconcious. Standing behind him, was a cyberman. But it didn't look like the others I'd seen. Skin was showing, and I could see it's face. I gasped, recognizing Lisa, Ianto's girfriend. She worked at Torchwood 1 with us.  
>I pointed the gun at Lisa, though my hands were shaking. "Jack, code zero incursion. Repeat! Code zero incursion. We're under attack."<br>Lisa moved closer, clunking and whirring.  
>"Lisa," I said, backing away. "I don't want to hurt you. But come any closer, I'll shoot," I said.<br>She still came closer. "This is your last warning Lisa. Stay away!" I yelled. She came closer still. I shot at her, but the bullet bounced off the armor on her chest. Under normal conditions, I would have hit her. I was a very good shot. But the lights in the room were flashing crazily, making it hard to see, and she was moving. She came closer, and I shot again with the same result. She swatted the gun away and lifted me up by the throat.  
>I choked, and Lisa pushed me towards the cyber conversion unit. "Let me go!" I yelled.<br>"Do not struggle. You will be like me," Lisa said.  
>I struggled harder. Lisa put me on the table, which tilted back, restraints snapping shut.<br>Lisa hit the button hit 'on' button.  
>"Throw down any weapons, put your hands up and turn and face me!" I heard Jack yell. I was looking up, at the ceiling, which had opened, reavealing knives and saws which were starting to descend.<br>"Jack!" I yelled.  
>"You're a woman!" Jack said, sounding baffled.<br>"NOT NOW JACK!" I screamed.  
>I heard Jack shoot, but I still didn't look away from the blades descending on me.<br>"She doesn't know what she's doing!" I heard Ianto say after a bang.  
>There was another bang. "You are fighting the wrong guy!" I heard Jack say.<br>The blades started whirring as they came down.  
>"Get me out of here, someone, please!" I yelled.<br>I mananged to turn my head to the side, and saw Ianto at the controls.  
>"Ianto, switch it off!" I yelled.<br>"I'm trying! She's changed all the circuits! Shut off the power everywhere!" he said.  
>"Toshiko, cut all power in the base!" Jack yelled into the comm.<br>"I do that, the base goes into lockdown! We'll be trapped.  
>"Just do it!" Jack said.<br>"Switch it off!" I heard Gwen yell at Tosh on the other end of the comm.  
>The lights switched off, and I heard the blades stop.<br>"Lily?" Jack asked.  
>"I'm fine. Get me out of here please," I said.<br>"It's all right," Jack said.  
>"Where is she? Where did she go? What happened?" I asked.<br>"Stand guard by the door," Jack told Ianto.  
>"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry," Ianto said.<br>"Ianto, it's fine," I said reasuringly.  
>"Let's just get out of here," Jack said. He used his wrist gadget to unlock the cyber conversion unit.<br>I stood, retrieving my gun and torch from they were lying on the floor. "Where's Owen?" Jack asked. I shone the torch over to where I'd last seen him. He was still unconcious.  
>"Here he is," I said, walking over. Jack picked him up, carrying him slung over his shoulder. It was good for Owen that Jack was here, or I would have just dragged him. If I decided to bring him at all... no, this was work, I would have brought him.<br>We walked into the corridor.  
>"Clear?" Jack asked.<br>"Clear," Ianto said. We walked down the hall a few feet, and turned a corner, jumping as we saw Lisa.  
>"What are we gonna do?" I asked Jack slowly.<br>"I don't know," Jack said.  
>Lisa turned and walked away, whirring and clunking.<br>"She's gone," Ianto said, sounding lost.  
>Jack pointed his gun at Ianto's head. " Get us back to the Hub," he said.<br>"Jack, don't shoot him, it wasn't his fault," I said.  
>Jack looked at me. "He brought that thing here, he must have." He looked back at Ianto. "Move," he said.<br>We walked a while, before Owen groaned. Jack stopped, putting him down none to gently against the wall as he was still keeping his gun trained on Ianto. Owen sat up, rubbing the back of his head.  
>"What happened?" he asked, standing.<br>I looked at Jack.  
>"We're not sure yet. But right now, we've got to getback to the hub before Tosh and Gwen decide to come looking for us," Jack said.<br>I nodded, and we started walking again.

We walked into the hub, and Jack immediately started barking out orders. "Tosh, get everything from the weapons room. Fast as you can," he said.  
>"It's locked down, there's no manual override," Tosh said.<br>"Just open the store!" Jack yelled at her.  
>"On your knees! Hands above your head!" Jack yelled at Ianto, still pointing the gun at him.<br>"Jack, for God's sake! What are you doing?" Tosh asked.  
>"Tosh! I gave you an order! Gwen, help her!" he barked at them. He turned to Ianto, and Gwen and Tosh remained where they were. "Did you know that thing was down there?" he asked.<br>"I put her there," Ianto said.  
>"You hid a Cyberman within Torchwood? And you didn't tell us? What else are you keeping from us?" he asked.<br>"Like you care. I clear up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life?" Ianto asked Jack.  
>Jack paused, before lowering the gun.<br>"Her name's Lisa. She's my girlfriend," Ianto said.  
>"Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you," Gwen said.<br>"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?" Ianto said.  
>"A little loyalty, perhaps?" Owen asked.<br>"My loyalty's to her! She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in battle. I owe it to Lisa... We owe it to her... to find a cure," Ianto said.  
>"Ianto, you have to believe me. There is no cure. There never will be. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception," Jack said.<br>"You can't know that for sure," Ianto said.  
>"Look, you need to know what's happening here. Because this is where these things start. Small decisions that become mass slaughter. These creatures regain a foothold by exploiting human weakness. Then they take a base. Rebuild their forces. And before you know it, the Cyber race is spreading out across the universe, erasing worlds, assimilating populations. All because of the tiny beginnings here. We need to stop her...together!" Jack said.<br>"You're not listening to me! The conversion was never completed!" Ianto yelled.  
>"She already tried to kill Lily! You think she's gonna stop there? There is no turning back for her now!" Jack yelled. I stepped forward.<br>"Jack," I said.  
>"I'm...not giving up on her. I love her. Can you understand that, Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?" Ianto asked.<br>"You need to figure out whose side you're on here. Because if you don't know... you're not going to make it out of this alive," Jack said.  
>Ianto looked down, and nodded.<p>

It was just a little while later, and we had been trying unsuccessfully to open the weapon's storage.  
>"There's no way this weapons store's gonna open," Owen said, turning away.<br>"It's going to take six hours for the power to come back online," Tosh said.  
>"Let me talk to her. I can still save her. Save all of us. She's not a monster," Ianto said.<br>I looked over as I heard a whirring sound, and saw Lisa turn the corner into the hub. Ianto started towards her.  
>"Ianto!" Gwen said.<br>"Lisa... It's me," Ianto said, ignoring Gwen.  
>"You can't just let him go-" Gwen said to Jack.<br>"Ssh!" Jack interrupted her before she could finish.  
>"The army will be rebuilt from here. This building is suitable," Lisa said.<br>"Who are you?" Jack asked.  
>"Human point two," Lisa said.<br>"No! Lisa-" Ianto started.  
>"So how come you look like human point one?" Jack said, cutting him off. I looked from Jack to Ianto tensely, hand going to my gun. I could get her...<br>"I do not understand," Lisa said.  
>"Look at yourself. Go ahead," Jack said. Lisa turned her head to look at her reflection in the glass of the window looking into Jack's office.<br>"Remember, Lisa. Remember who you are," Ianto said.  
>"The upgrade is incomplete," Lisa said.<br>"You're still human," Ianto said.  
>"I am... disgusting. I have... I am... wrong," Lisa said.<br>"We can help you," Ianto said, moving even closer. I slipped my gun out, holding it out of Jack's sight.  
>"I must start again. Upgrade properly," Lisa said.<br>"For God's sake! Have you heard yourself? Lisa, please. I brought you here to heal you. So we could be together," Ianto said, voice breaking.  
>"Together. Yes. Transplant my brain into your body. The two of us...together. Fused. We'll be one complete person. Isn't that what love is?" Lisa asked.<br>"No," Ianto said, crying.  
>"Then we are not compatible," Lisa said. She grabbed Ianto by throat, and lifted him, throwing him into the water at the base of the tower. He lay still. I pulled the gun up and aimed, as did Jack. Lisa pointed an arm at him and zapped his gun, and he dropped it. I ducked as she turned towards me.<br>"Code Nine manoeuvres. Go!" Jack yelled.  
>Lisa turned, and clunked towards Gwen, who froze like a rabbit in the headlights.<br>"Gwen! Gwen! Get out of there!" Jack yelled.  
>"Lisa! What you waiting for?" Owen yelled. Lisa turned towards him.<br>"Gwen!" I yelled. She looked at me, then turned and ran. I followed her example, running in a different direction.  
>"Run. We all ran," Lisa said. I looked, to see that she was going after Gwen and Owen, who were running close to each other. They were yelling at each other, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.<br>"Shut up, both of you! OK, now, this is a fight to the death. We do whatever is necessary to destroy her. Forget what Ianto said. That thing is not human. Clear?" Jack yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. I reached them, as did Tosh.  
>Jack handed Tosh a piece of alien technology.<br>"What's this?" she asked.  
>"Something Suzie scavenged last year. She claimed that it could open any lock in 45 seconds. I want you out the exit gates up the emergency stairs to reception," Jack instructed her.<br>"She'll never open that door without power! It weighs a ton!" Owen said.  
>"Anyway, I'm not leaving you here!" Tosh said.<br>"Just do as I say! All of you! Once in reception... panel next to the desk, pull it out. Take circuit 357 from the main system and patch it to these," he said, pointing to a picture. "There should be enough power in there for what we need. Once the main circuit goes live, get out. Meet us by the water tower. Go!" he said. She went.  
>"You three... find anything that even resembles a weapon," Jack said.<br>"Autopsy room. There should be some lethal equipment there," Owen said.  
>"What are you gonna do?" Gwen asked Jack.<br>"Buy you some more time. Go!" he yelled.  
>We ran, scattering. Gwen and Owen were covering the autopsy room. I would look elsewhere. I looked around the hub, for anything that might help. I heard a screech from above, and looked up to see Myfanwy circling overhead. That gave me an idea. I ran under her, trying to get her attention. I heard the others behind me.<br>"Hey! Lisa! It is Lisa, isn't it? You've been hiding in my basement. That's OK. Draining my power, I can live with that... But now you're starting to hurt my friends. This is gonna stop!" Jack said. I whistled as loudly as I could, but unfortunately, I was not the best whistler in the world. Myfanwy didn't notice me.  
>"This building belongs to me now. You will all be deleted," Lisa said.<br>"I'm sorry for what they did to you. But this ends here," Jack said. I heard a buzzing, but ignored it. I clapped, trying to get Myfanwy to notice me. she didn't, and I stopped, and took off my shoe. I threw it, hitting her. She sqwuaked, and turned to me. I clapped.  
>"Fannie!" I yelled, the nickname that seemed to bug her. She flew over, landing in front of me, hissing a bit. I held my hand out, encouraged when she didn't bite it off. I looked in her eyes.<br>"I need a favor," I asked, edging closer. She looked at me oddly, probably not understanding what I was saying. I walked closer, and touched her neck, forming a link with her.  
>Her mind was so... different. Different, and alien, though she was from earth. She didn't speak. Not in the sense we know. All she had was instincts. All of the feelings that we take for granted, love, and hope, and even anger, in a way, were nonexistent. All there was was the need to survive. No reason why, just that. I opened my eyes, looking into hers as she reacted to my mind- something as alien, foreign and incomprehensible to her as hers was to me. I had meant to create and sever the link quickly, but this was...<br>{Human,} A voice came. I realized with a start that it was Myfanwy.  
>{You don't know how to speak. Especially not english,} I sent.<br>{But you do,} she sent back. And it was true. I didn't know what was happening. But all of a sudden, I was thinking things I'd never thought of before. I knew things that... well, that I mostly couldn't use. Hunting... Mating... Flying... all things I couldn't do. But Myfanwy, she was getting things she could use. Like how human speech worked. How to cook a meal. Use a toilet, or a computer, or drive a car.  
>I really don't know how long we were there. But eventually, she found what I wanted her to do. The reason I'd formed the link in the first place.<br>{I understand,} she said.  
>I jerked my hand away, and backed up, as she took to the air. I turned, looking around. I blinked, seeing Jack, Ianto, Owen and Gwen gathered around a dead Lisa. So much for my plan. I started over to them, when Ianto jumped back, and Lisa got up.<br>"Ianto, move! Get out! Get out I said! Move! Move!" Gwen yelled, pushing him up the stairs. The rest of the team ran up the stairs, and Lisa followed them. Since I figured I looked ridiculous with only one shoe on, I took it off, and threw it at Lisa. It hit her in the back of the head, and she turned to me.  
>"Oi! You! Get over here freakshow!" I yelled, hoping ot buy the others a bit of time. I had more space to run than they did. She turned, and started clunking towards me, and I held my arms out to the side, hoping Myfanwy would follow through.<br>She did. With a shriek, she dived down, knocking Lisa over. The others were already on the block lift, and I ran over, joining them.  
>"Let me go! Let me help her!" Ianto yelled. The lift started to rise, and I grabbed ahold of his arm, helping the others to keep him on the lift.<br>"Hold him still!" Jack yelled.  
>"NO! Call it off her! You can do that! Have some fucking mercy!" Ianto yelled.<br>"Ianto, I'm sorry," I said.  
>Below us, we could hear Lisa screaming.<br>"NO!" Ianto yelled.  
>I choked back a sob as we emerged onto the street, in front of the fountain. Jack got off, and I let go of Ianto, Owen and Gwen following suit.<br>Tosh ran towards us. "It worked! What happened to-" she stopped when she saw Ianto.  
>"No," Jack said.<br>Ianto turned to glare at Jack, and then punched him, sending him sprawling.  
>"You could have saved her!" he yelled.<br>He turned to me. "And you! You told it to, I know you did! I saw you! You knew her! Why?" he yelled.  
>I struggled for words. "Ianto, I- I'm sorry," I said. I swallowed. "But that wasn't Lisa. Lisa died a long time ago," I said firmly.<br>"Listen, when I was at reception, I managed to trip the lockdown timer. The power should be coming back on any second. We can get back in," Tosh said.  
>Ianto started running, and we ran after him.<p>

"Ianto! Stop!" Jack yelled after him as we got closer to the reception.  
>"She can't have survived that attack!" Gwen yelled.<br>"I used my initiative! I'm sorry!" Tosh said.  
>"When I want you to think for yourself, I'll tell you," Jack said.<br>Ianto made it to the door and barged in.  
>"Maybe if you'd told me your plan, I wouldn't have done it!" Tosh said.<br>We ran in to see Ianto at the door. He turned, and pointed a gun at us.  
>Gwen, Owen and I were in front, and we froze with our arms outstretched.<br>"Ianto, don't be stupid," I said slowly.  
>"I've nothing left to lose," Ianto said.<br>"There's always something left to lose," Jack said.  
>Ianto pointed the gun at Jack.<br>"I'm going back in to save her. Anybody tries to stop me, I'll shoot them," Ianto said.  
>"Ianto, put the gun-"<br>Ianto swung gun to Gwen, and Jack moved, grabbing his arm, and pinning it against the door, knocking the gun out of his hand. He got his own gun out and pointed it at Ianto's head.  
>"You make a threat like that, you better be prepared to follow it through. See, you disobey me now... I really will shoot you," Jack said.<br>"Get off me!" Ianto said.  
>"You wanna go back in there? You go in to finish the job. If she's still alive, you execute her," Jack said.<br>Ianto turned to look at Jack. "No way," he said.  
>"You brought this down on us. You hid her. You hid yourself from us. Now it's time for you to stand as part of the team," Jack said.<br>"Jack..." I said slowly, inching forward.  
>"The girl you loved has gone. Your loyalty is to us now," Jack said.<br>"You can't order me to do that," Ianto said.  
>"You execute her or I'll execute you both!" Jack said.<br>"I won't do it. You can't make me. You like to think you're a hero. But you're the biggest monster of all," Ianto said.  
>Jack breathed out shakily. They stared at each other.<br>"I'm giving you ten minutes. Then we're coming in," Jack said, motioning to the rest of us.  
>"Pick it up," Jack said, nodding to the gun.<br>Ianto bent over, and picked up the gun. He stood, and looked at the rest of us before turning to go into the base.  
>"How can you ask him-" Tosh started.<br>"I don't need your opinion!" Jack yelled.  
>Tosh looked shocked, and Gwen had her hand curled over her mouth. Jack looked at me, and I met his eyes grimly. Owen was standing, silent. The ten minutes passed, too quickly for me. Jack turned, and we all followed him after a seconds hesitation. We walked through the mess in the hub, and down into the vaults, our footsteps echoing emptily around us.<br>We turned a corner, and heard voices ahead.  
>"What are you doing? Ianto, it's me! You wouldn't shoot me. I did this for you!" we heard someone say. It didn't sound like Lisa. We turned again, and saw Ianto standing next to a girl, his gun pointed at her face. He was crying.<br>"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said. He lowered the gun, and turned away.  
>"We can be upgraded together," the girl said. Jack raised his gun and shot her. The rest of us followed suit.<br>The girl fell back slowly on the conversion unit, staring at Ianto, who stared at her.  
>We all lowered our guns. Ianto looked at us. Gwen looked away, but the rest of us met his gaze, Jack defiantly.<br>Ianto turned and went to Lisa. He dropped to his knees somewhere between the corpse of the old Lisa, the one I'd known, and the girl I had never seen before. He rocked, sobbing.

I was sitting in the hub, watching Ianto Methodically picking up the trash, and Owen walked up to me.  
>"I've got a question," he said.<br>I looked up at him, and leaned back. "Shoot," I said.  
>"You worked at Torchwood 1. Why didn't you recognize the conversion unit?" he asked.<br>"I'd never seen one before," I said. I looked up at him. "I was in America when the cybermen attacked."  
>He looked at me thoughtfully, and then nodded, walking away.<p> 


	7. Countrycide

We were in the SUV, in the middle of the country. I normally would have enjoyed this experience, but Owen was moaning _so much._  
>"I hate the countryside," he said, for the hundredth time. Jack was driving, Owen was in the passenger seat, and the rest of us were squished in the back. Luckily for Owen, I was sitting behind Jack, or I would have punched him by now.<br>"It's dirty, it's unhygienic. And what is that smell?" Owen continued to rant.  
>"That would be grass," Gwen said.<br>Owen looked back at Gwen. "It's disgusting," he said.  
>I looked at Gwen. "Is grass disgusting?" I asked, pretending to be puzzled.<br>She shook her head. "No, not in my experience," she said.  
>I shook my head at Owen, and leaned back. What I had hoped might have been an enjoyable assignment was turning out to be a nightmare.<p>

We were at a Last Stop burger van, and the team was assembled around an open map on the hood of the car.  
>"Seventeen disappearances within the last five months. Police are clueless," Jack said.<br>"Now there's a surprise. No offence, PC Cooper," Owen said. I rolled my eyes, and looked at Gwen hopefully, but it didn't look like she was going to punch him this time.  
>"The last known whereabouts of each one is somewhere around here," Jack continued.<br>"All within a twenty-mile radius," Tosh commented.  
>"Anything else linking them?" Gwen asked.<br>"None of the bodies have ever been found. These people just fell off the radar. No patterns in age, sex, race. One minute they're here, the next ... boof. Gone," Jack said.  
>"The rift doesn't spread out this far. Does it?" I asked.<br>"We don't know that much about it to be certain. And it's increasing in activity all the time," Jack said.  
>"Come on, aliens aren't gonna bother hanging around out here. Probably some sort of weird suicide club with people choosing the same spot to end it all. God knows, if I had to spend too long up here, I'd want to top myself," Owen said.<br>Ianto came back over and passed Owen a burger.  
>"Here you go. Careful, they're hot. Sure you don't want anything, Tosh?" he asked. I reached over and grabbed one, as he handed them out to the rest of the team.<br>"Really sure," Tosh said.  
>I was already eating mine, and Jack and the others were on their first bites when Tosh spoke again.<br>"A friend of mine caught hepatitis off a burger from one of these places," Tosh said.  
>Jack put his burger back down on the car hood. I kept eating mine, unconcerned. I wasn't going to tell Tosh, but I was pretty sure her friend hadn't gotten hepatitis off the burger.<br>"We'll start with the most recent victim, Ellie Johnson. We last have record of her making a phone call. She dropped out of signal mid-call. The coverage map has her placed ... somewhere about here," he said, pointing to a spot on the map.  
>Gwen nodded, her mouth full of burger. I had finished mine, and was considering another. These really weren't too bad.<br>"Looks as good a place as any to set up camp," Jack said.  
>At the word "camp," Owen stopped mid-bite.<br>"Sorry, did you say 'camp'?" Owen asked.  
>Jack looked at him and smiled. Owen groaned, and I decided I was getting at least one more burger.<p>

Owen, Jack and I grabbed the tent gear out of the SUV. Owen was grumbling all the way to the site.  
>"What's the matter with a hotel?" he asked.<br>"People are going missing round here. Do you really wanna stay in a place run by strangers?" I asked.  
>"Cos sleeping outside is a lot safer," Owen grumbled.<br>"No other race in the universe goes camping. Celebrate your own uniqueness," Jack said.  
>We reached the site, where Tosh, Gwen and Ianto already had the other two tents up.<br>"What am I supposed to do with this?" Owen asked, prodding the gear with his toe.  
>"Need a hand getting it up, Owen?" Tosh asked.<br>"If I did, I wouldn't ask you," Owen replied.  
>Tosh turned and walked away, and Owen kicked the tent gear.<br>"Some pieces are missing!" he yelled.  
>"No. I checked," Ianto said.<br>I rolled my eyes, and gave Owen a push to get him out of the way, getting to work on the tent.

Gwen and Toshiko were going through the camp gear on one of the tables set up in the center of the tents.  
>"Oh, come on! It's just a bit of fun! Who was the last person you snogged?" Gwen asked Tosh.<br>I slapped Owen's hand way from the equipment again, but he was already going over to Gwen.  
>"See! You even sound like an eight-year-old! Who the hell says "snog"?" Owen asked.<br>"Mine was ... Rhys!" Gwen said, ignoring Owen.  
>"Yeah, well, there's a surprise," Owen said.<br>"Tosh, your go," Gwen said.  
>"It's easy for you!" Toshiko said. I focused on the tent, trying to be invisible.<br>"Oh, come on! Spill the beans!" Gwen insisted.  
>"Owen," Tosh said.<br>"What?" Owen asked.  
>"Really?" Gwen asked.<br>"Tosh, in your dreams," Owen said.  
>"3 am, Christmas Eve, in front of the Millennium Centre. Waiting for a cab. had mistletoe," Tosh said.<br>"Christmas? You've not had a snog since?" Owen asked. I would have pointed out that his fun-making of Gwen was now invalid, but I was invisible.  
>"No," Tosh said.<br>"Well. Lucky me, eh?" Owen said.  
>Jack and Ianto went to sit at the table. I hoped someone stopped this game before it got to me.<br>"So who was yours?" Tosh asked Owen. I looked down at the tent, realizing that there were only two people besides me after him.  
>"Gwen, actually," Owen said. My eyes widened, and I looked up, forgetting about invisibility.<br>Jack had had the same reaction as me. Tosh turned to Gwen.  
>"When was this?" Tosh asked.<br>Owen raised his eyebrows at Gwen.  
>"It was complicated," Gwen said.<br>"Didn't take you long to get your feet under the table," Tosh muttered, just loud enough for me to hear.  
>"What?" Gwen asked.<br>"So was it just a kiss, or ..." Tosh trailed off.  
>"Tosh, leave it," Gwen mumbled, and I thought about butting in. But I really didn't want to get into... my last snog.<br>"Jack?" Owen asked.  
>"Are we including non-human lifeforms?" Jack asked. I almost laughed, but stopped when I realized either me or Ianto was going next.<br>"Oh, you haven't!" Gwen said.  
>"You're a sick man, Harkness! That is disgusting!" Owen said.<br>"I never know when he's joking," Gwen said.  
>Jack smiled at them and didn't answer the question. I started to panic, and wondered if I should pass out. I started holding my breath, hoping I could actually make myself pass out.<br>"It's my turn, is it? It was Lisa," Ianto said. I let my breath out as a somber mood settled on the group. Jack's smile fell.  
>"Ianto, I'm sorry," Gwen said.<br>"Sorry she's dead? Or sorry you mentioned it?" Ianto said. I looked at my feet. I was feeling guilty about Lisa, despite myself. Ianto and I were not the closest, but he was probably the closest thing I'd had to a friend for a few years.  
>"I just didn't think," Gwen said.<br>"You forgot," Ianto said.  
>A silence fell, the game having lost it's appeal. At least I didn't have to answer that question.<br>"We should get some firewood," Owen said.  
>"I'll give you a hand," Gwen volunteered. I watched them go, hoping for Gwen's and poor Rhys' sakes that for Gwen and Owen, it stayed at just a kiss. I sighed, and went back to the tent.<br>After a few minutes, we all looked up again as Owen and Gwen came running into the camp.  
>Gwen pointed back to where they'd come from, out of breath.<br>"We found a... a body," she said. Jack looked at me, and I got up, going after Owen, who was already running back the way he and Gwen had come. The others followed close behind.  
>We broke into a clearing, and I put my hand over my mouth, trying not to gag as I saw the 'body'. Skeleton was a better word. It had been stripped bare of all the meat, and skin, and muscle. It was just bones, and it was covered in larvae of some kind.<br>The others burst in, and had pretty much the same reaction as me; Jack just stared grimly at the corpse, Ianto looked away and coughed, and tosh stared at it open-mouthed. Jack was the first one to move forward, crouching to examine it. Tosh and Owen joined him, and I stood over them, while Gwen leaned against a tree. Ianto fished in his bacpack a bit, and pulled out a roll of cfime scene tape, which he began putting up all around.  
>"Well, it's not Elli Johnson, that's for sure," Owen said. "This is a male, late 40s, 50s. Wasn't killed here. No blood spatter or signs of a struggle. Must have been brought here after he died."<br>"Why do that? It's not like they've tried to bury him here," Gwen said.  
>"Maybe you disturbed them and they ran away," Tosh said.<br>"Maybe it's a warning. Whoever's responsible marking out their territory," Ianto said.  
>"Cause of death?" Jack asked.<br>"Impossible to say. The body's been stripped of the flesh and bodily organs. So, all that's left is a carcass," Owen said.  
>"Could the Weevils have come out this far?" Tosh asked.<br>"No, Weevils don't finish off their victims like this," Jack said.  
>I turned as I heard a car start.<br>"Is that ours?" Tosh asked, her head turning as well.  
>"Yeah," Jack said. Jack got up, and we all followed him, running back to the campsite.<br>We ran into the camp, to see the car driving away. I hung ny head when I saw the campsite. It looked like whoever had taken the car had run it over before driving off.  
>Arrggghhh!" Jack yelled.<p>

Ianto was busy on working on a hand-held device. Owen picked up some wooden pegs off the ground while Toshiko ranted at him.  
>"All right! I've said I'm sorry!" he yelled.<br>Gwen pulled out a map. Jack paced in the area behind her, and I was staring at the tent I had been trying to put up. So much for that.  
>"Basic security protocols, Owen!" Tosh yelled.<br>"Oh, get off your high horse, Tosh! I was carrying that stupid gear," Owen said.  
>"What, the whole time?" Tosh yelled.<br>"And then I was trying to help Lily put that bloody tent up. And then ... well, yeah, I sort of forgot that I'd left them in there. But I'm sorry. I'm human. I ballsed up," he said.  
>"Looks like that body wasn't a warning. More of a decoy," Jack said.<br>"That would mean we've been watched since we've arrived," I said.  
>"Tosh, can you get a tracking signal?" Jack asked.<br>"Already done. I took the liberty," Ianto said, waving the device he'd been working on.  
>We all walked over to him.<br>"It's currently 3.4 miles west from here," Ianto said.  
>"Gunning at ninety, no doubt. You steal a piece of equipment like that, you drive straight on till morning," Owen said.<br>"Actually, no. It's been stationary for the past four minutes. I'd go so far as to say it was parked," Ianto said.  
>I peeked at Gwen's map.<br>"There's a small village in that area. Other than that, nothing for thirty miles," Gwen said, beating me to it.  
>"Call me suspicious, but this looks a lot to me like a trap," I said.<br>"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Jack said. "Anyone fancy a walk?" he said, turning and heading out. I looked at the others, and then followed him, the others close behind.

"Why would anyone want to live out here?" Owen asked, staring at the house up ahead.  
>"It's quiet and peaceful?" I suggested. Owen looked at me in an annoyed fashion, and I looked at Jack, ignoring him.<br>"Has the SUV moved?" Jack asked Ianto."  
>Ianto checked his Device, and his watch.<br>"Not for an hour now," he said. We started walking towards the building, and stopped just along the edge of the driveway.  
>We headed for the longhouse building. The gray graveled drive had a gray tractor parked in front.<br>Jack suddenly turned around.  
>"Tosh, Ianto – follow the signal, find the SUV. Owen, Lily, you check that building," he ordered. He turned to the inn. "Gwen, let's see if there's any room at the inn," he said. We split up, Owen and I heading for the other building, the sign on which declared that it was a pub.<br>I went first, opening the door. The place was empty. I moved to go behind the bar, and Owen stepped up to the counter.  
>"Pint of best please, love. And em, yeah, get one for yourself," he said, teasing quietly. I ignored him, and opened the cash register. The chu-ching of the bells was very loud in the empty room. I looked at the bills in the till, then put it down.<br>"Where is everybody?" I asked aloud. I motioned for him to go around the corner, and I headed into an area just off a hallway, which turned out to be the kitchen. The place was a mess, the curtains pulled closed and dirty post and dishes in the sink and on the counters.  
>I turned and looked up at the bug light hanging from the ceiling. My gaze was drawn to a spot on the floor, and I froze, staring at another corpse, skinned the same way as the other.<br>"Owen," I called. He popped his head in the door.  
>"Yeah?" he asked.<br>I pointed at the corpse. He froze when he saw the corpse.  
>"Oh, my God," he said. I backed up, still staring at the corpse.<br>"We need to get the others," I said. He nodded, and we walked out of the room.  
>We walked out of the door, and I ducked to the side quickly as someone shot at me. I looked up, to see Jack and Gwen, back to back, Gwen's eyes wide. She lowered her gun.<br>"Sorry," she said.  
>I stood. "We found another body in there," I said, pointing at the building.<br>"So did we," Jack said, indicating the inn. He turned to look at another building.  
>"Let's look in there," he said.<br>Jack ran over to the building, Gwen, Owen and I close behind. All of us had our guns drawn.  
>Gwen put a hand on the doorknob and waited. Jack and I had our guns pointed at the door, and Owen was covering us from behind.<br>"One, two, three..." Jack counted down.  
>Gwen opened the door. She raised her gun as she stepped inside. She swept the room and stepped further into the room. Jack looked back at me.<br>"You and Owen go, and find Tosh Owen," he ordered. I hesitated, and then turned motioning for Owen to follow me.

We walked around the building, moving carefully. We turned the corner, and I held up a hand, bending down to pick up something off the ground. I held it up for Owen to see. It was Ianto's tracking device. I held out my hand, and he looked at me skeptically but I didn't wait. I grabbed his hand, forming a link.  
>He struggled with it for a few seconds after I took my hand away, trying to figure it out.<br>"What did you just do?" he hissed at me.  
>{I formed a link,} I said. He looked at me, his expression close to horror.<br>{It's temporary,} I sent. {Send something at me. Think it, and direct it at me specifically.}  
>I got a few blibbers, before he managed to get through.<br>{Hello,} he sent experimentally.  
>{Good,} I sent back. {Now we don't have talk out loud, and it won't matter if we get separated,} I sent.<br>He nodded, seeing the advantages to the link now. We kept walking around the building, being even more careful than before after having found Ianto's tracking without Ianto being around. We turned a corner, coming out from behind the building. I stopped, looking at some trees. Owen stared too, and gagged a bit. There were animal carcasses hanging on it. I looked at him.  
>{You go that way, I'll go this way,} I sent, motioning with my hands. {Keep in contact.}<br>He nodded, still not entirely comfortable with the link, and moved off. I turned the corner, quickly, gun raised. I sighed in relief upon seeing that there was't anything there, and moved on, preparing for the next corner. I turned it quickly, and cried out as I came face to face with someone. I almost shot, but stopped when I saw it was Ianto. His eyes were wide, and his gun was pointed at my face. I breathed out shakily, and lowered my gun, backing up a step. He lowered his gun, sighing.  
>"Lily," he said. "Have you seen Toshiko?" he asked. I shook my head.<br>"No," I said.  
>{Owen, I found Ianto,} I said. I didn't get anything. {Owen? Answer me,} I sent. Still no response. I looked at Ianto in alarm.<br>"Owen's not answering," I said. He looked puzzled.  
>"I linked with him," I explained. His eyes widened.<br>"DUCK!" he yelled. I turned around in time to see something flying at my face, and then everything went black.

I felt someone shaking me. I opened my eyes, groaning as my head throbbed. Owen was shaking me.  
>{Lily?} he sent.<br>{Stop shaking me,} I sent. HE sighed in relief, and sat back. I sat up gingerly, looking around.  
>"Judging by the sound reverberations ... and the air quality, pretty deep underground. Chances of rescue?" I heard Ianto say. I looked behind me. He was groping along the walls of the cell. Tosh was sitting up in a corner.<br>"We won't need rescuing. I haven't met a cell yet I couldn't get out of," Tosh said.  
>"Guys, Lily's up," Owen said. They looked over.<br>"Did you see what it was?" Ianto asked.  
>I shook my head. "I don't know. It happened too quickly. I was hoping you saw something," I said. Ianto shook his head, and went back to looking at the walls.<br>Tosh got up, heading for a chute leading up. She put a hand on the slide and looked up the chute.  
>"That body we saw, in the forest..." Ianto started.<br>"Don't think about it. See if you can get that light to work, huh?" I said, pointing up at the light. I joined Tosh at the chute, while Owen went over to examine the door.  
>Ianto put the ice hook aside and stood up for the light. I looked at Tosh's hand, and saw blood. We exchanged a look, and moved out to look at the rest of the room.<br>"You're used to this, aren't you? That facial expression you all share. When things get a bit ... out of control. Like you enjoy it," Ianto said, speaking to all of us in general.  
>Tosh picked something up off the ground.<br>"Like you get a high from the danger," Ianto said.  
>"You want us to apologize for that?" I asked him distractedly.<br>"Don't you ever wonder how long you can survive before you go mad, or get killed, or lose a loved one?" Ianto asked. I paused. I didn't anymore, since Mother had disappeared.  
>"It's worth the risk. To protect people," Tosh said. Owen was trying to pry the door open.<br>"And who protects us?" Ianto asked. No one answered for a minute.  
>"I guess we just have to take care of ourselves," I said.<br>Tosh stepped back to examine the wall. "God, I'm hungry," she said.  
>"You should have had that cheeseburger," Owen grunted from across the room. I looked at Tosh apologetically.<br>"I had an extra burger in my backpack for later, but whoever brought us here took my backpack," I said. Tosh scoffed. "Not THAT hungry," she said.  
>We all smiled. Ianto abandoned getting the light to work. I picked up a shoe, staring at it, puzzled.<br>"What's that?" Tosh asked me.  
>"You've found something?" Ianto asked, coming over.<br>"It's just a shoe," I said, holding it up. I looked around. "Wait, there's another. There's dozens of them," I said. There were shoes and clothes strewn all about. Owen came over, giving up on the door.  
>"Oh, my God ..." Tosh said.<br>"How many people have been down here?" Owen asked.  
>"And what happened to them?" Ianto asked.<br>"Is that a fridge?" Tosh asked. She walked over and opened it briefly, before quickly slamming the door shut. She looked freaked out.  
>"Tosh, what is it, what's in there?" I askd.<br>She shook her head at me, eyes wide. Ianto went over.  
>"Tell us," he said.<br>Tosh grabbed him.  
>"Ianto, don't," Tosh said.<br>"I want to know," he said.  
>"Ianto, maybe you shouldn't," I said cautiously.<br>He headed for the fridge and opened the door wide.  
>I peeked around him, and gasped in horror. The fridge was bloodied on the inside and filled with body parts – some wrapped in plastic, some not. I backed up, and Ianto slammed the fridge shut. Owen gagged, and threw up in a corner.<br>"That's why there was nothing left on the body. They need to eat," I realized.  
>Ianto gasped as Owen continued to retch.<br>"We're food," Tosh said.

It was a while later, and we were all at the door, trying to pull it open.  
>"Got to be three steel bolts - top, middle and bottom," Tosh grunted.<br>"How are you at calculating target stress points? Find the weakest point, bit of brute force..." Ianto suggested.  
>"Nice thought. But it's reinforced," Tosh said.<br>"Stand back guys," Owen said. He grabbed a pipe, bracing himself as he kicked the door. Ianto joined him. Tosh and I watched, knowing they wouldn't get it to open.  
>Then the little window in the door opened and lights from the other side filtered in.<br>Ianto and Owen scrambled back as the door opened. Someone carrying a gun enters the cellar.  
>"Who are you?" TOsh asked.<br>The woman ignored her question. "Does anyone else know you're here? Have you managed to call for help?" she asked.  
>"We don't need any help. There's two more of us in the village," Tosh said.<br>"I can't help you," she said. She started backing away from us.  
>"I'm sorry," she said.<br>"What d'you mean?" Owen asked.  
>"I've been sent to collect you. I've got to take you to them," she said.<br>"Tell us what's going on. We can help," Tosh said.  
>The woman laughed. "No-one's safe. Every ten years ... it takes us again," she said.<br>"What takes you? What is it?" I asked.  
>"The Harvest," the woman said.<br>Toshiko looked at Ianto, and Ianto stepped forward to rush the woman, but she held the gun on him.  
>"No, please. You have to come with me. You, and you," she said, indicating Tosh and Ianto.<br>I stepped forward, and the gun turned on me.  
>"Please... don't," she said. She looked at Tosh and Ianto. "Just...come," she said. She kept her gun trained on them as they moved out the door. The door shut, and Owen lowered his hands, looking at me.<br>"Now what?" he asked. I moved over to the door, finding that it had been relocked. I looked around, my eyes settling in the small barred window. I looked at Owen.  
>{Find something, anything that's sharp. And keep it to the link, so they don't hear us,} I sent.<br>{What for?} he asked.  
>I gestured to the window.<br>{I'm going to see if we can get those bars loose enough to get out,} I sent.  
>{Neither of us is gonna fit through there,} he sent.<br>{We will if we can get just one of those bricks out along with it,} I sent. He looked at me, and nodded, moving off to look.

We came up with Owen's pocket knife, and a small hand shovel. We went over, and started scraping at the mortar, as quietly as we could. It soon became apparent though, that we weren't getting out that way any time soon, so we abandoned the effort. I sat back, trying to think of a way out of this, when my eyes settled on the chute.  
>I walked over to it. I could fit in there. It went up, fifteen feet maybe.<br>{We don't know where that goes,} Owen said, walking over.  
>I wiggled my shoulders into the narrow space, the smell of blood almost overwhelming me.<br>{Give me a push,} I set. He pushed, and I tried to wiggle my way up a bit further, but the chute was slick with blood, and it was all I could do to keep from falling back out.  
>{Wait there,} Owen sent. I heard him rattle something, and he came back with a mop. He stuck it up the chute, pushing on my feet with it. I felt myself sliding up, but I wasn't going fa enough. There was still a gap of about five feet that I couldn't reach. Owen pulled the mop out slowly, and I came back down.<br>{Are there any more mops?} I asked.  
>{No, but here's a broom,} he said. My eyes widened as I realized what he was going to do. He put the mop back up the chute, handle first this time. I had to balance of the top of it to keep from being speared by it in unpleasant places. He slid the mop, and me up as far as he could, and the pushed on the head of the mop with the handle of the broom. I was almost there. I reached up, gripping the top of the chute.<br>{Good work,} I sent.  
>{Yep. Come back for me?} he asked.<br>{No, I'm just going to leave you there. What do you think?} I sent.  
>I pulled myself up the rest of the way, so I could peek my head over the top.<br>I saw Ianto and Tosh, on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs, and another boy, the same. The woman who had come to get us, and a man were standing over them.  
>"Who is he?" Tosh asked of the boy.<br>"He's meat," the man said. "I'm afraid we're all just meat."  
>He headed through the sheeting into the next room.<br>{Owen, they're human,} I sent.  
>{What?} he asked.<br>{The ones that got us, they're human,} I said.  
>The woman gave a baseball bat to the man. They both had they're backs to the chute. I started to pull myself up, being careful to make no sound.<br>"What're you going to do, put us on meat hooks?" Tosh asked.  
>"No, not yet. You see ... meat ... has to be tenderized first," the man said. The man and the woman had they're backs to the chute. I was out now, and Tosh spotted me. I nodded to her, and picked up a rolling pin off the table. I ran at the man, hitting him soundly over his head. He stumbled, and cried out, and Tosh got up to run as Ianto tripped the woman. I grabbed Ianto's hand, and tried to help him up, but the woman grabbed my foot, tripping me. Ianto kicked her, and she grappled him.<br>"Go!" he yelled at me. I saw the man getting up, and I ran. I didn't follow Tosh outside though. I ducked into a hall, and waited.  
>"Go! Get the others!" the man yelled. He took off after Tosh.<br>The woman brought the butt of her rifle down on Ianto, knonking him out. She went out the door. I held my breath until I heard it slam, and them ran down the hall. At the end, were stairs. I went down those. They led to a cellar area. I saw a door, with three bolts, just like Tosh had said. I unbolted it, and peeked inside. Owen looked up, and ran over.  
>{Be quiet, let's go get Ianto,} I sent.<br>He nodded, and we made out way back into the kitchen.  
>I ran over to Ianto who was unconcious, and slapped his cheeks, when I felt a gun pressin gto my temple. I looked up to see a different man, who was pointing the gun. The woman who'd come to get Tosh and Ianto had her gun pointed at Owen.<br>I stood slowly, and the man knocked me back down. Anther person that I couldn't see tied my hands behind my back. Owen was treated much the same. He looked over at me.  
>{Only in the bloody countryside,} he sent.<br>I glared at him.

A while later, the door opened, and Gwen was shoved into the room along with Tosh.  
>"Who are these people?" Tosh asked, looking around at everyone.<br>"This is our village," A man said.  
>"But the villagers are dead," Gwen said.<br>I sighed, having figured it out long ago. "They're all involved. They've all been doing it," I said.  
>"This is our Harvest," the first man said.<br>"Only in the bloody countryside! You sick fuckers," he said, repeating what he's sent me earlier.  
>The first man pushed Tosh to her knees. Gwen went over to the boy, who was tied up.<br>"Are you okay?" she asked.  
>The first man slapped Ianto, waking him up. "Time to be bled," he said.<br>He grabbed the meat cleaver off the table.  
>"Like veal, it takes a long time. But it definitely makes the meat taste better," he said.<br>{Who was the last person you kissed?} Owen asked.  
>I looked over at him. {That's what you're thinking of?} I asked. He shrugged.<br>{I'm curious. You're the only one who didn't get to say,} he sent.  
>I looked away. {Well, I'm not saying,} I said.<br>{Please? Are you going to let me die with an unanswered question?} he asked.  
>{Yes, I hate you,} I sent. I was angry though, and I got sloppy. He picked up on what I was thinking.<br>{Oh my god, it was that night,} he sent.  
>I didn't answer.<br>I heard a rumbling noise, that was geting louder.  
>{What's that?} Owen asked.<p>

"What now?" the man asked. he let Ianto go.  
>"What the fuck?' he asked, staring at the double doors.<br>There was a horrendous crash, as the large gray tractor burst through the double doors. The man ducked. The tractor stopped in the middle of the kitchen.  
>Jack appeared with a rifle and shot the man in his leg. He continue shooting at anyone standing up. Owen and the rest were ducking to avoid getting hit.<br>Jack shot and hit a villager and another and another. The first woman ran to her rifle leaning against the stove. As soon as she grabbed it, Jack shot her. He continued firing.  
>When the rifle ran out, he dropped it, and grabbed his handgun and shot the remaining villagers. He turned and shot a police officer in the leg. The officer reached for his gun on the floor nearby.<br>"Oh, really?" Jack asked. Jack shot him in the hand. Tosh got up.  
>Jack grabbed the first man and put his gun under his chin.<br>"No, Jack! Don't do it," Gwen protested/  
>"These people don't deserve warnings," Jack said.<br>"Let me question him. I have to understand. I want to know why. Otherwise this, this is too much," Gwen said.  
>"They're injured, they need to get to the hospital," Tosh said.<br>"Owen you control the bleeding and then phone the police. Jack, please give me an hour with him," Gwen said. She paused. "Don't tell me you don't want to know, too," she said more softly.  
>Jack released the man.<p>

We were in the pub, and I was leanign against the wall. The link with Owen had faded, and I was glad. Gwen and the man were sitting at a table.  
>"The whole village was involved," Gwen said.<br>"Every generation. Our tradition. Once a decade. Target those traveling through, those most likely to disappear," the man said.  
>"And butcher them. What sort of people are you that you wake up in the morning and think, this is what I'm going to do? Why'd you do it?" Gwen asked.<br>The man didn't answer.  
>"Come on! Make me understand," Gwen said.<br>"Why do you care?" the man asked.  
>"I have seen things you would never believe. And this is the only thing I can't understand," Gwen said.<br>The man turned and smiled as he looked at Jack. He turned back to Gwen who was expecting an answer.  
>"So, keep on wondering," the man said.<br>"Tell me! I need to know why!" Gwen shouted.  
>"That's enough. Time to go," Jack said.<br>"I'll tell you something ... if you let me whisper," the man said.  
>"Okay," Gwen said.<br>Evan leaned forward, very close to Gwen's ear. Jack stood over them.  
>He whispered, and I couldn't hear. Jack grabbed him by his collar.<br>"Come on," he said.  
>He pulled him away from Gwen, who looked stunned by whatever he'd said.<br>"Out," Jack said.  
>Jack and the man left.<br>I walked over and sat across from Gwen.  
>"What did he say?" I asked.<br>"That it made him happy," she said.


	8. Greeks Bearing Gifts

We were in a big tent, inspecting the mess someone had dug up.  
>"Once, just once, I'd like to walk into one of these tents and find it's a party. You know, food, drink, people dancing, girl crying in the corner," Jack said.<br>"Is it alien?" Gwen asked.  
>"And how," Jack said. He switched his wrist gadget to a scan setting. "I'm picking up traces of ilmenite, pyroxene, and even Dark Matter," he said.<br>"Any idea what it is?" I asked, referring to a big rusty, angular object.  
>"Not a clue," he said, examining it. "Could be a weapon, or a really big stapler. How's our friend there?" Jack asked of the corpse nearby.<br>"She's dead," Owen said.  
>"Yeah, thanks, Quincy," Jack said."<br>"She?" I asked.  
>"Judging by the size of her skull," Owen said.<br>"How long have they been here, Tosh?" Jack asked.  
>"From the depth they found them... I'd say 196 years, 11 to 11 and a half months. The earth's been disturbed so I'm afraid I can't be more accurate," she said.<br>"What killed her? The stapler?" Gwen asked.  
>"Nah. See those shattered ribs? I reckon she was shot," Owen said.<br>"Well, let's get her back to the Hub and find out," Jack said.|  
>Gwen pulled Owen up out of the hole. "You're so light! You're like a girl," Gwen said.<br>"I'm not light, I'm wiry. Fat girls go mad for it. But I guess I don't need to tell you that," he said, looking at Gwen. I stared at him oddly as Gwen blushed and looked away.

I was at my station, working, when I heard a giggle from behind me. I turned, to see Owen and Gwen under Tosh's desk. I got up and walked over. I bent down to peek under.  
>"What in the tarnation are you doing?" I asked.<br>They looked up at me a bit guiltily.  
>"Well... uhmm..." Gwen scrambled a bit.<br>I'm really sorry, I think your computer might be dead.  
>"What's going on?" Tosh asked, walking over. I stepped back, shaking my head.<br>"I was just trying to find out," I said. I looked at Owen and Gwen, now out from under the desk.  
>"Umm, well, we think your computer might be dead," Owen said.<br>"You're kidding. What happened?" Tosh asked, running around to the front of the station.  
>"OK, so she said I was no good at sport... Hello? So I said, 'Throw something to me and-"<br>"What happened to the computer?" Tosh demanded.  
>"Oh. I kicked out the plug," Owen said.<br>"What? It was running a translation program I'd written. I'd collated every scrap of alien language we've got, and broken it down into binary threads to see if there was a common derivation," Tosh said.  
>"That's a bit of a mouthful," Owen said. I glared at him.<br>"Sorry. Private joke. Um, stupid joke," Gwen said, looking a lot more guilty than Owen.  
>"We're supposed to be professionals. We've got a job to do," Tosh said.<br>"She's right. You're right, Tosh, I'm sorry," Gwen said, walking away.  
>"Do you know what, Tosh? Sometimes I think even that stick up your arse has got a stick up its arse," Owen said. He walked away too. I looked at Tosh.<br>"Do you need help with anything?" I offered.  
>SHe shook her head, plopping herself down in her chair.<br>"No, I'll be fine," she said.  
>I nodded, and went back to my station.<p>

It was the next morning, and I was walking out of my car into the office, when I noticed a few very odd things centered around Gwen's car. First off, it was bouncing, and the windows were all steamed up. and also, when I walked past, I heard low moans issuing from inside. My eyes widened, and I ran past. I crouched behind another car, and waited, hoping my hunch was wrong.  
>My hopes were shattered a few minutes later when Owen and Gwen walked out of the car. I crouched down further, hoping they wouldn't notice me. They didn't though, and I waited a for a few minutes after they went in to get up.<br>I passed Ianto on the way in, but hardly noticed. I was thinking. Maybe it just wasn't fair to feel this way, but the fact that Owen and Gwen now seemed to have something more than a friendly relationship going on really bugged me. Maybe I was being unfair, because to be honest, it just made me mad that he was happy. But to justify this anger to myself, I told myself that I didn't want Gwen to get hurt. As far as I could tell, Owen used women, and moved on. He'd done so with me. Gwen's relationship with her Rhys would be ruined, and when Owen and Rhys both left her, she'd get her heart broked twice. No good could come of it.  
>I spent the rest of the day brooding in the same fashion, hardly noticing Tosh when she came in. She stared at me oddly for a few minutes, and moved away, eyes wide. I kept eyeing Gwen and Owen, wondering what, if anything I was going to do about this.<p>

I took a different route home than Owen that might. He would assume I'd gone out. Instead, I went right back, and watched the door to his apartment. Sure enough, after a while, along came Gwen.  
>So this was certainly most out of hand. Highly disturbed, I went into my apartment.<p>

The next day, my brooding was interrupted by some clangs and singing. I got up from my station, and went into the autopsy room.  
>Owen was in the room itself, and Gwen was sort of dancing around on the walkway. Owen was throwing things, mostly at Gwen. Jack was just standing there, laughing.<br>"Plodders!" Owen yelled, and I ducked as something almost hit me.  
>"The leg bone's connected to the hip bone... " Gwen sang.<br>"Please stop singing. Anything to stop you singing!" Owen yelled. He threw something at Jack.  
>"I don't know what you're laughing at!" he yelled.<br>"Stop singing, please don't sing, please don't sing. Not listening, mmmmmmm," Owen hummed with his fingers in his ears.  
>"Hey,what's going on now?' I asked.<br>"You remember the skeleton we found at the building site? Well, Amanda Burton here has just completed the post-mortem," Gwen said, indicating Owen.  
>"OK, I can explain," he said, turning to me.<br>"As you may remember, at the building site, Owen said this was a woman killed by a single gunshot," Gwen said.  
>"I'd been there, like, a minute?" Owen protested.<br>"Since then he's had to 'tweak' some of his initial conclusions. The first being that this isn't, in fact, a woman, but a _man_," Gwen said. I looked at Owen.  
>"Really?" I asked.<br>"A young man. A very girly man," Owen said defensively.  
>"But still ultimately a man," Gwen said. "Then there was the cause of death. Owen said GSW. Uh-UHH! The correct answer was..."<br>"Unidentified trauma," Owen said, looking up at the roof.  
>"Unidentified trauma?" Tosh asked, walking in. She looked around in confusion.<br>I pointed at the skeleton. "It's a man, not a woman, and the cause of death was an unidentified trauma, not a gunshot wound," I said, trying not to laugh.  
>"You see it in RTAs, when something like a steering column or a post goes into a body at great velocity," Gwen explained for Tosh. She turned back to Owen. "But the one thing that could be ruled out was..."<br>"Gunshot wound," Owen said.  
>"Gunshot wound. Was there, in fact, any part of your prognosis that was right?" Gwen asked.<br>"I got that it was a...skeleton," Owen said. I snorted, unable to stop myself.  
>"Yes, you did," Gwen said, her tone similar to one that would be used to congratulate a puppy.<br>"You..." he mumbled, and I couldn't hear what he said. "You've just passed the point of-"  
>"Where did you train Owen?" I broke in. He looked at me.<br>Gwen pointed at him. "Yes, where did you train? _Did_ you train?" she asked. Owen started throwing things again, and I ducked out of the room, going back to my workstation, giggling all the way.

I sat up in bed,sweating after a bit of a nightmare. I was in my apartment, and according to the clock, it was 5:34 in the morning. I lay back down, hands on my face. I was starting to become obsessed with this Owen/Gwen thing. I was even dreaming about it. "  
>I was just starting to drift back to sleep, when the phone rang. I stumbled out of bed, into the kitchen, and picked it up off the counter.<br>"Yeah?" I asked, raking my hair out of my face.  
>"Get to the hub, as fast as you can," someone said.<br>"Jack? Is that you?' I asked.  
>"Yeah," he said.<br>"What's going on?" I asked.  
>"Hurry up, I'll explain when you get here," he said. He hung up, and I stared at the phone for a minute, before grabbing my purse and coat, slipping on some shoes, and heading out the door, not bothering to change out of my pajamas.<p>

I watched from around a corner as Tosh and another woman came in.  
>"'In Xanadu, did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree... Where Alph the sacred river ran through caverns measureless to man, down to a sunless sea.' So, where is it, lover?" the other woman asked.<br>"Stay here. Jack, my boss, has got it," Tosh said. I looked at Gwen.  
>"Be quick. I've a long journey ahead of me. I might need something to eat before I go," I heard the other woman say.<br>"This what you're looking for?" Jack asked. Gwen and I stepped out from around the corner.  
>"Jack!" Tosh cried. Jack, who had been up on the walkway, started walking down towards them slowly.<br>"Friend of mine - let's call him Vincent. That was his name, after all. Regular guy, girlfriend, likes his sport, likes a beer. He starts acting a little... strange, a little distracted. Suddenly he disappears for a couple of months. He comes back, and we've gotta start calling him Vanessa. Since then I've always been a little nervous when a friend behaves out of character," Jack said. He looked at the other woman. "I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced. Jack Harkness. My guess is you're not from around these parts. Now this... This is incredible. You know what it is?" he asked, referring to the rusty object from the grave site which he was holding in his hands.  
>"It's a transporter," Tosh said. "Mary was a political prisoner - she was exiled here. Look, Jack-"<br>"You've got half of it right. Mary... It is Mary, isn't it? You want to tell her the really interesting bit? No? Chatty, isn't she? I don't know how you got a word in edgeways, Tosh. It's a two-man transporter. Or whatever you people may be. You might be squids, for all I know. A two-squid transporter. Room for one prisoner and one guard. You want to tell us what happened to the guard, Mary?" Jack asked.  
>"I killed him. But I was disturbed," Mary said. She looked around at the rest of us. "A woman, this body, walked out of the woods. I took it. I would need to blend in on this planet after all. Then another came - a soldier. He tried to shoot me. So I plunged my new human hand into his chest and plucked out his heart."<p>

"And that's what you've been doing ever since," Owen said.  
>"This form needs to be fed," Mary said.<br>"All the punctures were all about the size of a fist. My God, all those people. You killed all those people," Owen said.  
>"I fled before any more soldiers came. I had so much to explore! And how I loved this body. So soft. So wicked. The power such a body has in this world. Within a few years the forest had gone, transporter was safely buried under the spread of the city. I didn't care, I wasn't exactly in a hurry to get home," Mary said.<p>

"And you've been killing ever since," Jack said.  
>"I knew there might come a time when my situation here became complicated, but I was safe, as long as I knew where the transporter was," Mary said. I noticed Tosh putting on a kind of pendant. I wondered what it was.<br>"And then the machine was uncovered," Jack said.  
>"As soon as the air touched its surface, I could feel it," Mary said.<br>"So I found my Toshiko. My beautiful Toshiko," Mary said, looking at Tosh. Oh god, is she talking about... i let that thought go, not wanting to follow it.  
>"Owen, NO!" Tosh yelled. He lunged for her, and Mary grabbed Tosh, pulling out a knife that went right to her throat.<p>

"Let her go, Mary!" Jack yelled.  
>"Don't," Owen said.<br>"Let her go!" I said.  
>"Toshiko, tell them to give me the transporter," Mary said.<br>"I can't, Mary," Tosh said.  
>"How's this? I'll exchange Toshiko for that one," she said, pointing at Gwen. "Your choice," she said.<br>"Did you hear him? He didn't want to, did he?" Mary said to Tosh. I looked at them in confusion.  
>"Please, don't..." Owen said.<br>"That's what they think of you. That's who you've been working with for all these years," Mary said. I made a connection.  
>{Tosh, are you reading our thoughts?} I directed the thought at her specifically. Her eyes settled on me, and I knew that she head.<br>"It's not true, Tosh, don't listen," Owen said.  
>"But not me. Whatever I've done, it doesn't change the way I feel about you. We have a connection, Toshiko, something real," Mary said.<br>{Tosh, don't listen to her,} I said.  
>{You too. What do you think of Toshiko?} Mary asked. I looked at her in shock. Class 8 telepath? Impressive. She smirked at me.<br>{Tosh, you know we don't think that,} I sent at her.  
>"Please," Tosh said.<br>"OK, you want the transporter, we want Toshiko. I think that's a fair swap,"Jack said, stepping forward. "Keep the knife and I'll give you the transporter myself."  
>Mary let Tosh go, she ran to Ianto.<br>Jack brought the transporter over to her. They were both holding it, so they were really close to one another.  
>"You smell... different to them," Mary said.<br>"That's nothing. It's when you compare teeth with a British guy, that's when it's really scary," Jack said.  
>"What are you?" Mary asked.<br>"I don't know," Jack said. I moved over to Tosh, and put my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me, and I wondered what she'd heard. My eyes settled on the pendant, and I realized that it was probably how she was hearing. She nodded, and I knew that my guess was right.  
>"And you would have put me in a cage?" Mary asked Jack. A beep came from the transporter. "What's happening?" Mary asked.<br>"Oh, that. I re-programmed it for you. It's set to enable," Jack said. There was a bright light, and a whoosh.  
>"Sort of now," Jack said. The light faded, and Mary and the transporter were gone. Tosh, in tears, took the pendant off.<br>"What did she...? Has she gone home?" Tosh asked Jack.  
>"I reset the co-ordinates," Jack said.<br>"Where to?" Tosh asked.  
>"To the centre of the sun. It shouldn't be hot. I mean, we sent her there at night and everything," Jack said.<p>

"You killed her," Tosh said.  
>"Yes," Jack said. Tosh glared at Jack for a lng moment, and then Jack walked away.<p>

I considered talking to Gwen about this thing with Owen, but I decided it was none of my business. I hated Owen, but our job was dangerous. I didn't want to be in a situation where I needed his help, and have him mad at me. So I dropped the matter.


	9. They Keep Killing Suzie

We were all going to a crime scene. I had no idea why, and I don't think anyone else did either. We got there, to see people milling around an area enclosed in yellow crome scene tape. We got out of the car, and walked over. A woman came up to us.  
>"At last. You must be Torchwood? My team bitch about you all the time," she said.<br>"And you are?" Jack asked.  
>"Detective Swanson," she said.<br>"I'm Captain Jack Harkness," Jack said.  
>"So I've heard. Are you always this dressy for a murder investigation?" Swanson asked.<br>Jack took off his sunglasses. "What, d'you rather me naked?" Jack asked.  
>"God help me, the stories are true," Swanson said.<br>Jack put the glasses back on. "So who's the victim?" Gwen asked.  
>"That's victims, plural,"Swanson said, pulling out some photographs. "Yesterday, a man was murdered at 96 Oakham Street, Alex Arwyn, 28, single, estate agent, here we go, that's from the scene of crime. Today, in here, we get two more, Mark and Sarah Briscoe, both 33, married, he's a surveyor, she works in education," Swanson said as we looked at the pictures.<br>"What about the smears of blood? Is that writing?" I asked.  
>"Work in progress. Come inside and see the finished thing," Swanson said. She turned, and we followed her into the house, through a licing room, down a hall and into a bedroom.<br>"Oh my god..." Gwen said. I looked around. There was a man and a woman in a bed, and there was blood all over. Written in blood on the wall above the bed, was the word 'Torchwood'.  
>"Looks like somebody wants your attention," Swanson said.<br>"They've got it," Jack said.  
>"We found a few of the killer's hairs from the first murder. Lab results should be in soon," Swanson said.<br>"Good, we'll need that. Now, if you could just clear the room? Some of this equipment is strictly need to know," Jack said.  
>"It was only a matter of time," Swansin said.<br>"What was?" Jack asked.  
>"Torchwood walks all over this city, like you own it. Now these people are paying the price - ordinary people, ripped apart, with your name written in their own blood. From where I'm standing, you did this, Captain Jack Harkness. You did it," Swanson said. She left, and Owen shut the door behind her.<br>"Still, at least we've got a head start. If it's someone we've pissed off, that narrows it down to... ooh, four or five million," Owen said. He snapped on a latex glove.  
>"And that's just the humans. Tosh, how we doing?" Jack spoke through the earpiece he was wearing.<br>"There's no record of Mr and Mrs Briscoe on our database. Nor yesterday's victim, and no link between him and the Briscoes. No connection between any of them," I heard Tosh said.  
>"Jack? They've got the results on the killer's hair," Gwen said, popping her head in the door.<br>We went outside, to where Gwen was standing with Swanson. Swanson had a folder.  
>"Initial findings say, Caucasian male, early 40s, smoker, drinks tequila. Doesn't match any DNA profiles. Only thing of interest is a compound we've never seen before. Recognise it?" Swanson asked, handing Owen the folder.<br>"Uh-Oh, we're in trouble," he said.  
>"What is it?" Gwen asked.<br>"Compound B67," Owen said.  
>"You're kidding," I said.<br>"Retcon. He's got Retcon in his blood," Owen said.

We were at base, in the meeting room. For Gwen's sake, Owen was giving us a class on the properties of Retcon. Everyone else present already what it was.  
>"B67, aka Retcon, aka the magic ingredient of the amnesia pill," Owen said.<br>"And this belongs to us? Whoever this killer is it's somebody we gave the amnesia pill to?" Gwen asked.  
>Ianto came in, and took a seat.<br>"Is he remembering that he's a serial killer? Or is he becoming a serial killer because of the Retcon?" I asked.  
>"Wait a minute. I've taken Retcon," Gwen said.<br>Jack grinned. "Then better stay away from sharp objects. Ianto, how many people have we given amnesia pills to?" Jack asked.  
>"2,008," Ianto replied.<br>"Hey, what if they all become psychotic?" Owen said.  
>"D'you have to sound so happy?" Tosh asked.<br>"I'm just saying. Mean Streets!" Owen said.  
>"Tosh, narrow the list down to fit Swanson's profile, start checking them out fast as you can. You two, there's got to be a link between the victims, find the link, find the killer. Get to it!" Jack ordered.<br>"Jack? If there is a link, why don't we just ask the victims ourselves?" Gwen asked.  
>"Not the right time for a seance, Gwen," I said.<br>"No, but there's always the glove," Gwen said."  
>"Heh-heh, no way!" Jack said.<br>"Not after what it did to Suzie," Owen said.  
>"Hold on, did I miss something? Who's Suzie, and what's this glove?" I asked.<br>"Suzie Costello, she used work here. The glove brings people back to life, just for two minutes. We could question the murder victims," Gwen said.  
>"That's exactly what she said. She was one of us, we trusted her and now she's dead cos of that thing," Owen said.<br>I held up a hand to stop them.  
>"Wait, Suzie Joan Costello?" I asked.<br>Everyone looked at me.  
>"You know Suzie?" Jack asked.<br>"I used to," I said. "We were friends when we were little. Then her family moved when I was ten, and I never heard from her again." I froze as I registered what Owen had said. I looked at him. "Wait, did you say she's dead?" I asked in shock.  
>He nodded. "Uh, yeah, that's what I said," he said.<br>"What happened?" I asked.  
>"It was the glove's fault," Owen said.<br>"How did a glove that raises the dead kill someone?" I asked.  
>"She was killing people so she could test the glove. Jack caught her, and she shot herself," Tosh explained, her tone grim.<br>"Suzie was killing people?" I asked. Owen looked at me in annoyance. I glared at him.  
>"Well I'm sorry, it just doesn't sound like the Suzie I knew," I said defensively.<br>"People change," Jack said. I looked at him, and had to admit that he was right. I would have never thought that I would be here when I was at that age.  
>"The glove stays in the safe where it belongs," Jack said firmly.<br>"These murders are happening because of Torchwood. So Torchwood has got to do something," Gwen said.  
>Jack and others sat there silently for a moment. I was still a bit shocked at the news of Suzie's death. Then Jack nodded reluctantly.<p>

"It fell through the Rift about 40 years ago. Lay at the bottom of the Bay till we dredged it up. I always figured, this wasn't just lost. Whoever made it, wanted rid of it," Jack, pulling a metal glove out of locked box. We were in his office, and everyone was looking at the glove.  
>"You know, we never gave it a cool name," Owen said.<br>"I thought we called it the resurrection gauntlet?" Tosh said.  
>"<em>Cool<em> name," Owen said.  
>"What about the Risen Mitten?" Ianto suggested.<br>Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. "I think it's catchy," he said. I thought about it. I had admit, I didn't have anything better.

We were in the autopsy room.  
>"Jack? You OK?" Gwen asked.<br>Jack tossed Ianto a stopwatch, then pulled on the glove as he talked.  
>"Don't forget, the maximum resurrection time is two minutes. That's only cos Suzie had practice. The most we're likely to get is 30 seconds, okay? Tosh, you ready?" Jack asked.<br>Tosh was at her computer. "Ready. And, recording. This man was victim number one. Name - Alex Arwyn," Tosh said.  
>Jack put his hand on the dead man's head then started making some very interesting faces. I would have laughed, if everyone else hadn't been so morbid.<br>"Come on, Alex. Come back," Jack said.  
>"How does it work?" I asked.<br>"You just sort of feel," Jack said. "Like reaching into the dark. Finding the dead. I can't... I don't... Ah. Damn! Ah!" he yelled. He yanked the glove off as it made an electrical kind of noise. He shook his hand.  
>"Ah! Nothing! Sorry. Never was very good with this thing. Owen?" he asked.<br>"I tried last time. We all had a go, it only responded to Suzie," Owen said.  
>"Well, neither Lily nor I ever had a go," Gwen pointed out.<br>Jack looked at us.  
>"Who wants to try first?" Owen asked cheerily. Gwen and I looked at each other.<br>"I'll go," Gwen said.  
>Gwen and Jack swapped sides of the table so Gwen could reach comfortably. Gwen slid the glove on.<br>"It's cold," she said.

"It warms up," Jack said.  
>The computer beeped to show it was ready to record.<br>She put her gloved hand on the man's head. Her eyes were closed, and we watched.  
>On the table, Alex and Gwen gasped at the same time.<br>"Somebody help me! Oh, my God, help me, help me, help me!" Alex shouted.  
>"Alex! I need you to listen to me," Jack said.<br>"Somebody help! HELP ME!" Alex screamed.  
>"That's what we're doing! Alex, you were attacked. Do you know who it was? Who attacked you!"<br>"Who are you?" Alex asked.  
>"How long?" I asked Ianto.<br>"Where am I?" Alex asked.  
>"15 seconds," Ianto said.<br>"Who are you?" Alex repeated.  
>"I'm just I'm just trying to help, sweetheart. I'm just trying to help," Gwen said.<br>"I want my mum. Please! Let me see my mu..." Alex stopped mid-sentence, going blank as the machine emitted one long beep.  
>"He's gone," Owen said.<br>"Let me keep trying," Gwen said.  
>"Gwen, he's dead," I said.<br>"But I can bring him back," Gwen said.  
>"The glove only works once," Jack said.<br>"But I can do it, just let me try," Gwen said.  
>"Gwen. Look at me. He's gone," Jack said.<br>There was a long pause, and then Gwen pulled the glove away from Alex's head.  
>"That was amazing, she's a natural. 24 seconds!" Ianto said.<br>"Give Ianto a stopwatch, and he's happy," Owen said.  
>"It's the button on the top," Ianto said.<br>"What d'you think? Gwen? D'you want to stop?" Jack asked.  
>Gwen resettled glove on her hand. "No, let's keep going," she said.<p>

"Recording. Victim number two - Mark Briscoe," Tosh said from her desk.  
>"Oh God, I can feel him, it's like a rope from my heart to the glove... Oh, it's so warm," Gwen said.<br>Mark gasped, and woke. He panted, but didn't freak.

"Hey, there. Just look at me. Look me in the eye. That's it," Jack said.  
>"Where am I?" Mark asked.<br>"You've been hurt, we don't have long, we need to know who attacked you," Jack said.  
>"Is my wife all right?" Mark asked.<br>Jack nodded. "We're looking after her. Now Mark, who was it?" Jack asked.  
>"It was that man. He belonged to Pilgrim, he went to Pilgrim," Mark said.<br>"What's Pilgrim?" Jack asked.

"Oh my God, he had a knife," Mark said.

"No, Mark, he's gone, we don't have long, quickly, what was his name?" Jack asked.  
>"35 seconds," Ianto said.<br>"Max," Mark said.  
>"Trying Pilgrim and Max, get a description,"<br>"You gotta give us something more so we can catch him," Jack said.  
>"He's going," Owen said.<br>"There was... There was someone who knew him better... That woman... She was always talking to him..." Mark said.  
>"What was her name?" Jack asked.<br>"Where's my wife?" Mark plead tearfully.  
>"Her name!" Jack demanded.<br>"Suzie," Mark said.  
>Owen, Tosh, Jack and Gwen all looked shocked. I knew what they were thinking: Suzie that they used to work with.<br>The machine issued a long beep, as Mark died again. Ianto clicked the stopwatch.  
>"One minute five seconds," Ianto said.<br>"Jack? Did I hear that right?" Tosh asked.  
>"Could be anyone, there must be lots of women called Suzie," I said.<br>"Not connected to this case. We've been talking to the wrong corpse," Jack said.

We were in the meeting room again. The door squeaked as Tosh walked in.  
>"Pilgrim. A religious support group, more like a debating society, meaning of life, does God exist? All that stuff. The point is, it was tiny, more like a hobby, run by Mark Briscoe's wife, Sarah. She had all that stashed in the wardrobe. Handwritten and photocopied, that's why we couldn't find any records, she wasn't even online," Tosh said.<br>"No mention of Suzie, or Max?" I asked.  
>"Not a word. She didn't even keep a register," Tosh replied.<br>"It wouldn't be our Suzie, though. She wouldn't go to that support group bollocks," Owen said.  
>"How do you know? I mean, were you friends? Any of you? Who was her best friend in this place?" Gwen asked.<br>"She sort of kept herself to herself," Owen said. He looked at me. I shook my head.  
>"She changed enough since I knew her that she was capable of murder. I think your Suzie and the one I knew were two completely different people," I said.<br>"Well, then. If she needed to talk, maybe that's exactly where she'd go, a group of complete strangers," Gwen said.  
>"Could be. You've got a point, Gwen. Time we got to know our deceased colleague a little better," Jack said.<p>

We were at a storage facility, a little later on. It was raining. Jack was unlocking a garage door.  
>"Have I got this right? When I die, you get to keep all my possessions? My whole life's gonna get stashed in a locker?" Gwen asked.<br>"Rules and regulations," Jack said.  
>"What if I leave all my stuff to Rhys?" Gwen asked.<br>"We'll stash him away, too. Tread carefully, people. With respect. This is the life of Suzie Costello," Jack said, stepping into the storage garage, which was full of boxes.  
>"That's all we are, in the end. A pile of boxes," Tosh said.<br>"Is her father still alive?" Gwen asked as we looked through some boxes.  
>"Don't know," Tosh said.<br>"But you must've looked him up? To tell him his daughter was dead?" Gwen asked.  
>"When Suzie left Torchwood, she was on the run. She wiped all her records. I couldn't retrieve her files, she was good at computers. Huh... She was good at everything," Tosh said.<br>"She was good at murder too. Laugh a minute, that was Suzie," Owen said.  
>"What's that?" Gwen asked Jack, who was looking through a book.<br>"A book. Emily Dickinson. Poet," Jack said. I lifted a piece of paper out of the box.  
>"Jack. Pilgrim. She's part of it," I said.<br>"That proves it, then. No choice. It's time Suzie came back," Jack said.

We were in the autopsy room again, and we were all standing Suzie's body.

"Do we all get frozen? Torchwood staff, when we die, do we all get kept?" Gwen asked Jack.  
>"Rules and regulations," Jack said.<br>"How long for?" Gwen asked.  
>"Forever," Jack said.<br>"Recording," Tosh said.  
>"Have you got your stopwatch?" Owen asked Ianto.<br>"Always," Ianto said.  
>"I'll record from my station. I'm sorry, but I don't want to look her in the eye. Sorry," Tosh said. She left, and bit awkwardly, and there was a silence.<br>"Anyone else?" Jack asked after a few minutes.  
>Ianto looked at Jack, and Jack looked at Owen, who looked away.<br>"Any advice? Yeah, I know. Empathy. Even though she did try to kill me," Gwen said.  
>"You and me both," Jack said. Gwen breathed out a bit shakily, and rested the glove on Suzie's head.<br>"I'm getting a reading," Owen said as the machine beeped. "No, it's gone..." he said.  
>The glove made a buzzing noise.<br>"Just...memories. Nothing living. She's too far gone," Gwen said, taking her hand away.  
>"What do we do now?" Tosh asked.<p>

"Nothing we can do. That's it. We're out of options," Jack said.  
>I cleared my throat, and Jack looked at me.<br>"I could try," I said.  
>"What makes you think you'd get any different results than Gwen?" Owen asked.<br>"It worked best for Suzie, I don't know if you were aware, but she was slightly phsycic. I'm a class five telepath. There's a chance that this glove uses telepathic potential to yank people back from... beyond. I think I should try," I said.  
>Jack looked at me for a few minutes, and then nodded. Gwen took the glove off, and handed it to me. I stood by Suzie's head. I took a breath, and put the glove to her head.<br>At first there was nothing. Then there was a warm feeling, and a kind of... buzz. I could feel something, but I wasn't sure what it was. It was grabbing at me. I was about to pull away, when I realized it was probably Suzie. I pulled, trying to get her back.  
>I gasped, and heard a gasp coming from the corpse below.<br>It was the oddest feeling. Like we were linked, but not a mental link, not one that connected two minds. Something else, something much, much deeper than that. I knew that they were talking, but they seemed so far away. I couldn't hear them. I felt Suzie struggling, struggling to stay. She pulled on me, using me as a kind of anchor. This was wrong, I knew it was wrong. She should be dead. I should let her go back. But I didn't know if Jack had gotten what he needed yet. So I held her.  
>Then I felt someone smack me, and I went flying backwards. I looked up, my vision blurred. I felt the glove go cold, and realized that the connection between Suzie and me had been severed.<br>"What happened? Did you get it?" I asked. I tried to stand, and fell back down. My vision cleared, and I looked up to see Jack standing over me. I grabbed the wall, and stood, leaning on it heavily.  
>"Jack? What happened?" I asked.<br>"You looked like you were having a seizure," Owen said. I looked at him, then back to Jack, and then to Suzie, who was now a corpse once more.  
>"Did you get what you needed?" I asked. He shook his head, and I cursed.<br>"You should have left me until you got it!" I said.  
>"You could have died," Jack said.<br>"So?" I yelled.  
>Jack looked at Owen. "I told you, it's the glove, they get hooked," he said.<br>"All right, don't make a fuss, it's over now," Owen said.  
>"Um, excuse me. I'm still counting," Ianto said.<br>"There's not much point, Suzie's dead," Owen said.

"No, according to the equipment, she's unconscious," Ianto said.  
>"What the hell's going on?" Jack asked as Owen checked a screen.<br>"Oh, my God. He's right. She's alive! Suzie's still alive. Look at her, she's bloody breathing!" Owen yelled.  
>"She can't be..." Jack said.<br>"Well she is," Owen said.  
>"One minute thirty and counting," Ianto said.<p>

Jack and Gwen had taken Suzie down to an interrogation room, and Tosh, Ianto, Owen and I were sitting around the table in the conference room. None of us really knew what to do. Owen had looked at me, and said I was fine. We just sat, waiting in silence.  
>After a while, Jack came in. We all looked up at him expectantly.<br>"She gave us a place where she thinks we could find him, the Wolf Bar, and a possible next victim, Lucy Mackenzie," Jack said. I nodded, and got up, as did the others. I stopped at the balcony, looking down. Gwen was standing next to a wheelchair that contained Suzie. She looked up at me, and I looked away, not knowing what to think.

We were at the Wolf Bar. Tosh and Suzie had stayed at the base. All the rest of us were wearing the earcomms.  
>"Cover the exits," Jack yelled over the blaring music.<br>"Bloody hell, like I didn't have a banging headache already," I faintly heard Gwen say.  
>"Keep alert, people. To repeat, Max is described as 40, six-three, six-four, stocky, short dark hair, tattoo down his left arm," Jack yelled.<p>

"That narrows it down!" Owen yelled sarcastically.  
>"Wait, I've got a match on that guy," I heard Owen said over the earcomm, which were set so we could all hear.<br>"Where is he?" Jack asked.  
>"Northwest Bar," Owen said.<br>"Show me," Suzie commanded from. "Owen, get in closer, which one do you mean?"  
>"Wait, he's going over for the... Wait, I've got a match on our girl, Lucy Mackenzie, the student," Owen said.<br>"That's her, that's definitely her," Suzie said. I turned, and headed through over to Owen.  
>"It's too late, he's going over," Owen said. I heard some odd noises, like a scuffle.<br>"Got the bastard!" Owen said.  
>"That isn't him," Suzie said. I could see Owen now. He had some bloke pinned down on the floor.<br>"Gwen! Behind you!" I heard Suzie yell through the earcomm.  
>I turned, but I couldn't see what was happening.<br>"I got him," Jack said over the earcomm.

Jack and Owen were down in the cells with Max, and Suzie was back in interrogation room. I kept glancing in the direction of the stairs that lead to that room, torn. I finally made up my mind. I got up, and headed down the stairs into the interrogation rooms.  
>Suzie looked up when I came in.<br>"Lily. It's been a while," she said. I nodded, sitting across the table from her.  
>"Funny. He said we would both had great potential. As far as I can tell, mine diminished throughout the years," Suzie went on. "How about you? What class are you now?" she asked.<br>"Class 5. Instinctive," I said. She snorted.  
>"And I'm dead. Or I should be," she said.<br>"They said that you killed people," I said. "Did you?"  
>She looked at me for a while, and then nodded. I looked down at my hands, clasped on the table.<br>"When did you get here?" she asked.  
>"About a month or two ago," I said.<br>"Was Gwen Cooper already here?" she asked. she said Gwen's name like Gwen was some kind of deadly disease.  
>I nodded. "Yeah," I said.<br>"So they replaced me immediately," she said.  
>I shook my head. "No, I think they just got another person," I said.<br>She looked at me. "Do they have her working the glove?" she asked.  
>"She did work it, yeah. I brought you back though. She couldn't," I said.<br>"Is she sleeping with Owen?' Suzie asked.  
>I stared at her. "What does that have to-"<br>"Is she?" Suzie asked. I nodded. Suzie looked down.  
>"See? Replaced me completely," she said.<br>"Where did you go? When you moved away," I asked.  
>"Everywhere," she said. "Dad wanted to 'see the world'. We went all over. New York. Tokyo. The Taj Mahal. Thing is, he planned to get us around the world and back. He never thought about what would happen to us when we got back home.<br>"He blew it all. All our money. We ended up here in Cardiff. Eventually, Mom got tired of it and left. And after that, he started drinking. I took care of me. I was recruited to Torchwood, and... and after a while, I died," she said. She was staring at a point over my shoulder, lost in thought. She refocused on me after a minute.  
>"And what about you? What did you do?" she asked me.<br>"After we... a few years after It happened, I got into Torchwood London, as a field agent," I said.  
>Suzie laughed out loud. "So how'd you end up in Torchwood Cardiff?" she asked.<br>"After the battle of Canary Wharf-" I stopped, looking at her. "Were you... were you alive for that?" I asked somewhat tentatively.  
>She nodded. "Yeah," she said.<br>"I was in America. When I got back, they had assumed that I was dead. So, one thing I had to correct them on. But Mother was missing, assumed dead. So I moved to Cardiff. London was too full of bad memories. And good ones. Too many reminders." I shrugged. "I never was good with handling grief," I said.  
>Suzie nodded. " Yeah. So how'd you end up in Torchwood again? Did Jack find you?" she asked.<br>I shook my head, face going red. "No, I had a... an incident with Harper," I said.  
>Suzie leaned forward. "Ooh, what did you do?" she asked. I shook my head.<br>"Did you ever see _him _again?" I asked, changing the subject. She knew who I meant.  
>She sat up a bit straighter. "No, you?" she asked.<br>I shook my head. "No, I never did," I said. "I actually joined Torchwood because I was hoping I'd find him," I said.  
>She nodded. "Yeah. Not exactly the only reason I did, but a large part," Suzie said.<br>We sat in silence for a long while. Suzie was the first to speak.  
>"Could you do me a favor?" she asked.<br>"Depends," I said. "There are some things I can do. And some things I can't. What is it?"  
>"I'd like to see my father. Could you just ask Jack if he could let me go? To see him?" Suzie asked.<br>I shook my head. "There's no way he'd say yes to that. If you told us where he is, we could bring him in to see you," I suggested.  
>Suzie shook her head.<br>"I'm not letting him anywhere near Torchwood. If he's still alive," Suzie said.  
>"What do you mean, 'if he's still alive'?" I asked.<br>"He's got cancer," she said.  
>"I could contact him on your behalf," I suggested.<br>"And say what?" Suzie asked.  
>There was another long silence. She just stared at me.<br>"I'm really sorry," I said after a while.  
>"What for?" she asked.<br>"Bringing you back," I said.  
>"What, you didn't miss me?" she asked, widening her eyes with fake hurt. I shook my head.<br>"No, it's not that. You just seem... sad I guess. Like you don't want to be here," I said.  
>The corner of her mouth twitched. "I guess it's something like that," she said.<br>I stared at her for a long while, then I stood.  
>"Fine then. Wait here, I'll be back," I said.<br>"I'm not going anywhere," Suzie said dryly.  
>I stood, and walked out of the interrogation room. I went up the stairs, to my workstation. I looked up, to see that everyone else was in the conference room. Perfect. I ran back into the interrogation room.<br>"How would you feel about a field trip?" I asked. The place was rigged with cameras, but the rest of the team was going to find out anyway.  
>She looked at me. "Where to?" she asked.<br>"To see you father," I said.

"I was going over Suzie and Lily's medical records. I ran them through the philharmon filter. Watch the footage," Owen said, pointing at the computer screen. The screen showed Gwen and Mark. There was a kind of green light, moving from Gwen, through the glove into mark. "This is the moment when Gwen brought back Mark Briscoe, the husband. See? Now look at his death. See? The energy flow stops just as he's about to die. But have a look at what happened when Lily brought back Suzie," he said.  
>The screen showed a stream of energy moving from Lily to Suzie.<br>"What is that?" Gwen asked.  
>"Energy. Life. I don't know why it's different with Lily than you. Maybe it has somethign to do with her being a fairly advanced telepath. Maybe it has something to do with her previous friendship with Suzie. But Lily and Suzie seem to have a permanent connection and Suzie is getting stronger. It's still going, right now. She is draining the life out of Lily,." Owen said.<br>"There's always a price," Jack said. "The wearer of the glove can bring somebody back, but loses their own life in return."  
>"How do we stop it?" Tosh asked.<br>"We've got to kill her. Suzie's got to die," Jack said.  
>"Again," Gwen said.<br>"Who's gonna do it?" Owen asked.  
>" Like you said, I'm the boss," Jack said, pulling out his gun. He left. They all stayed in the conference room, waiting. The intercomm buzzed.<br>"Toshiko! Where the hell's Suzie? And where's Lily?" Jack demanded,.  
>"Interrogation Room," Tosh said into the intercom.<br>"No they're not... Find them, fast!" Jack ordered. Tosh leapt up, and ran out of the conference room, down the stairs to her desk.  
>"I can't see them. Hold on. Scanning," Tosh said into the intercom as Owen joined her. "Nope. Nothing on internal scans," Tosh said.<br>"What's going on, where've they gone?" Owen asked.  
>Jack ran over to them. "Just keep looking... Bring up the SUV," Jack said.<p>

"Still there. I'll try exteriors... What about Lily's car?" Tosh said. She checked, and the car was gone.  
>"What's she doing?" Gwen asked, walking over.<br>"Getting herself fired," Jack said.  
>"Unbelievable," Tosh said.<br>"How stupid is that? Thinking she could just drive off," Owen said.  
>"Come on. Let's go get them," Jack said. The lights went off suddenly, and they were immersed in total darkness.<br>"What the hell...," Owen started.  
>"Ianto? Ianto?" Jack yelled.<br>He turned towards a source of light.  
>"Captain?" Ianto asked, shining the torch down to keep it out of the others' eyes.<br>"What happened?" Jack asked.  
>"But I thought you must've done it. We've gone into lockdown," Ianto said.<br>"Then reverse it!" Jack yelled.  
>"I can't. It's 100%. The doors are sealed. We're locked in," Ianto said.<br>"Everything's gone. Computers, mobile coverage, the lifts, everything... We're sealed in," Tosh said.  
>"How long does Lily have before she dies?" Gwen asked.<br>"Two hours, maybe less," Owen said.  
>"Come on! Think! If Suzie set up the lockdown, how did she do it?" Tosh said.<br>"Entered an override?" Owen suggested.  
>"No She's officially dead, the computer wouldn't give her access," Tosh said.<br>"Then how did she do it? What the hell did she do?" Jack demanded.  
>There's got to be an answer. Suzie couldn't physically start the lockdown, Lily wouldn't have let her. But there's no-one else!" Tosh said.<br>"Wait a minute... We've got a guest," Jack said.  
>He ran, and the others followed him, down into the cells, which were emergency red lit Jack pointed his torch at teh prisoner, who was now shirtless, sitting cross legged on the floor, rocking and chanting.<br>"...Stopped for me The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality Because I could not stop for death..."

"Is that a poem?" Gwen asked.  
>"I wonder. Emily Dickinson?" Jack said.<br>"But what does it mean?" Owen asked.  
>"It's a verbal trigger. Say it out loud, maybe repeat it 100 times over and the Hub locks down," Tosh realized. Jack nodded.<br>"But if that's part of the system, Suzie must've installed a vocal command programme, way back," Gwen said.  
>"Back when she was alive, yeah. Max is just a Trojan horse. Suzie planned this right from the start," Jack said.<br>"But how could she have planned on Lily being here? She died three months before Lily showed up. If we're assuming that Lily's link with Suzie is due to her being a class 5 telepath, then how could Suzie have planned that?" Owen asked.  
>"I don't think she did," Jack said. "Maybe it isn't Lily, but her. Maybe she... I don't know, maybe she did somehting to prepare herself to latch onto whoever brought her back." He turned away from Max to look at them. "Don't you see? Max, the Retcon, everything, it's all been a hoax to get us to resurrect Suzie," he said.<br>"She gave Max a whole complex of subconscious triggers," Owen said, beginning to catch on to what Jack was saying must have happened.  
>"Like, she dies, Max becomes a time bomb... He doesn't see her for three months and, wham, the orders kick in. He follows Suzie's program, and starts killing," Tosh said.<br>"And the whole chain of events forces us to bring Suzie back," Gwen said, eyes wide.  
>"And then she escapes!" Tosh said.<br>"You've got to admit That is not bad! I'm picking her for my team," Owen said.  
>"If she could lockdown the Hub, she must've installed a way of reversing it just in case," Tosh said.<br>"Yeah," Jack said.

It was a little while later, and they were all in the hub, trying to think up a way out.  
>"I've got reception, sir," Ianto yelled from by the water tower.<br>"How do you do that? We're sealed off!" Jack asked, jogging over.  
>"Just used the Water Tower as a relay," Ianto said."<br>Jack took the phone and went back to the desk.  
>"Nice work, Ianto!" he said. He went to dial, but paused, thinking. "But who the hell do we phone?" he asked. The others all looked at him.<br>"Well, how about the police?" Gwen suggested.  
>"Um, no," Owen said. Gwen turned on him.<br>"Do you have a better idea?" she asked. He stopped, and thought for a bout five minutes. Gwen got tired of waiting, and turned back to Jack. "Call the police," she said. Jack nodded, and dialed.  
>"Yes, I'd like to speak with Detective Swanson," Jack said. He paused. "Torchwood," he said.<br>"You'd better not be wasting my time," Swanson said.  
>"As a matter of fact I was wondering if you could do us a favour," Jack asked.<p>

"The humble police, helping the mighty Torchwood? Why don't you just help yourselves? Like you normally do," Swanson said.  
>"Because we can't," Jack said.<br>"Why's that?" Swanson asked.  
>"We're sort of busy," Jack said, floundering a bit.<br>"Well, I'm busy too, try someone else," Swanson said.  
>"No, no, no... It's just because we can't at the moment because we're sort of stuck," Jack said.<br>"In what way?" Swanson asked.  
>"We're locked in," Jack said.<br>"You're locked in?" Swanson asked.  
>"Just a bit," Jack said.<br>"Locked in where?" Swanson asked.  
>"Um. In our own base," Jack said, though it looked like it caused him physical pain to say it.<br>"You're locked inside your own base?" Swanson asked.  
>"And it's not funny," Jack said.<br>"And how am I supposed to help you, exactly?" Swanson said, laughing a bit.  
>"We need a book of poetry," Jack said. He heard her laugh again.<br>"It's NOT funny!" he stressed.  
>"Alright, fine, I'll get you your book of poetry. If you do something for me," she said.<br>"What?" Jack asked.

A few Minutes Later...  
>"All right, Captain Jack, just say that one more time. Nice and clear," Swanson said. She had the entire station assembled around the phone, which she'd put on speaker.<br>"We're locked in our own base and we can't get out," Jack said. Jack heard the entire police force roar with laughter. "OK, you've had your fun. Now Listen, Detective Swanson, one of our team is in danger," Jack said.  
>"Right, you lot, back to work," Swanson said, picking the phone back up. "OK, we've got it. The Complete Poems, it's gonna cost you 20 quid."<p>

"What does the book say?" Jack asked.  
>"Er, I don't know, what am I supposed to do?" Swanson asked.<br>"Find 'I Could Not Stop For Death'. Read out the next verse," Jack said.  
>"What if it doesn't work?" Swanson asked.<br>"Read out the whole book," Jack said.  
>"It's gonna be a long night," Swanson said, flipping through the pages.<p>

Suzie and I were in the car. We'd been driving a while. I wasn't sure how long. There was a question I wanted to ask that was nagging at me, but I wasn't sure if I should ask. I decided to try.  
>"Suzie, can I ask you something?" I asked.<br>"Sure," Suzie said.  
>"When you're dead... I mean, when you die... What happens?" I asked.<br>"What do you want me to say?" Suzie asked.  
>"The truth," I said.<br>"Really?" Suzie asked.  
>"Tell me," I said.<br>"Did you take up religion?" she asked.  
>"Just sort of in passing," I said.<br>"Do you believe in Heaven?" Suzie asked.  
>"I don't know," I said.<br>"Yes, you do. What do you believe?" Suzie asked.  
>"I like to think that if there is a heaven, then it's different for everyone. Because heaven is supposed to be a reward for being a good person, and everyone as different ideas of perfect," I said.<br>Suzie stared ahead out the windshield. "That's a nice thought," she said.  
>"So what's out there?" I asked.<br>"Nothing. Just nothing," Suzie said.  
>"But, but if there's nothing, what's the point of it all?" I asked.<br>"This is. Driving through the dark. All this stupid, tiny stuff. We're just animals, howling in the night, cos it's better than silence," Suzie said. She paused. "You know, I used to think about Torchwood, all those aliens, coming to Earth... What the hell for? But it's just instinct. They come here cos there's life, that's all. Moths around a flame. Creatures clinging together in the cold," Suzie said.  
>"So when you die, it's just...,"<br>"Darkness," Suzie said.  
>I stared ahead for a long time. I suppose I could have... I don't know. Given up. But I did realize that if what I thought about heaven and afterlives had any merit at all, then I had to take into account that Suzie had killed people. According to what I believed, she was going to hell. And maybe for her, that was hell. Just darkness.<p>

"Parting is all we know of / heaven and all we need of hell," Jack said aloud. "No, try another," he said.

"'Success is counted sweetest / by those who ne'er succeed'. "Christ, she was a bundle of laughs," Swanson said.  
>"Success is counted sweetest by  those who ne'er succeed. Nope," Jack said.  
>"Wait a minute, just had a thought... If words cause the lockdown, maybe numbers reverse it... Try the ISBN, every book's got a different number," Tosh said.<br>"You getting this?" Jack asked Swanson.  
>"Yup, hang on, I'm looking..." Swanson said.<br>"Read it out," Tosh said. She was at her computer, ready to type.  
>"The keyboards aren't working," Jack said.<br>"But The membrane underneath might just recognize the code," Tosh said.  
>"Got it!" Swanson said. "ISBN 019 8600 585," she said. Jack relayed that to Tosh, who typed it into the keyboard. There was a hum, and the lights went back on.<br>"That's it! Everybody, move, move, move! Kathy, thank you," Jack said/  
>"Pleasure!" Swanson said. Jack hung up. He, Owen and Ianto ran out, heading for the SUV. They got in and started driving.<br>"I've got the tracker on Gwen's car. It's a hospital. Giving you the co-ordinates now," Tosh said.  
>"On the way. How long's she got?" Jack asked Owen.<br>"It's only a guess, but I'd give Lily about 40 minutes," Owen said.  
>Jack dialed Kathy again. "Kathy, I want the road ahead clear. I'm gonna break the speed limit, big time," Jack said,<p>

We were in a dark hospital room. Suzie's father was lying on a bed with wires and tubes going in and out of him. My head was absolutely killing me.  
>"Oh, my God, this headache, it's..." I put a hand up to my head. It came away red with blood. "What's happening to me?" I asked.<br>"I'm really sorry Lily. You're getting shot in the head. Slowly. And believe me, it hurts," Suzie said. She pulled off her head scarf, lightly touching the gunshot wound. "Almost better. Completely gone, soon," Suzie said. I collapsed, my knees giving way.  
>Suzie got up out of the wheelchair and walked over to the bed. "Dad?" she asked.<br>"It's me, Dad. Wake up! Dad? It's Suzie," she said. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Hello, Dad," she said. She pulled his breathing tube.  
>"And goodbye," she said, watching as he gasped for breath.<br>"What are you doing?" I asked.  
>"Oh, that's worth coming back for. Sending him into the dark. Just what the bastard deserves," Suzie said.<br>"Suzie, I don't understand," I said as she grabbed me under the arms and hauled me into the wheelchair. "You love your Dad. Why did you do that?" I asked. Her face was hard.  
>"Relationships change. So do people," she said. She wheeled me out.<br>We got to the car, and she pushed me in, leaving the wheelchair behind. She got in the driver's side, and started the car up.  
>"Suzie, why? We were friends," I said weakly, fighting the darkness creeping into the edges of my vision. I could stay alive. I was strong. I would not go.<br>"I'm sorry Lily. I didn't think it would be you. I thought it would end up being Owen, or Jack or Tosh. I never thought it would be you," she said.  
>"Why don't you stop?" I said. My head hurt so much. It was so hard to fight. But going to sleep, giving up, that would be so easy. I wanted to sleep. I was so tired. I shook my head, concentrating on the pain to keep awake.<br>"I can't. And I wouldn't if I could," Suzie said.  
>"Why not?" I asked. I had to keep talking. Talking was good.<br>"Because life is all there is. And I'd do anything to stay. Anything," Suzie said.  
>I tried to sit up straighter, but I couldn't. I could feel myself slipping. I banged my head against the chair, keeping myself up. I had to fight. I had to stay awake. I couldn't go, not yet. Not yet. The car stopped. We were... I couldn't see. It was all blurry. I heard a door slamming, and then Suzie pulled me out of the car, dragging me with her.<br>"It's beautiful, Lily. Can you see? We'll take the ferry. Go out. As far as we can. Keep on running cos he won't hurt us. We'll keep on going, you and me," Suzie said. I was slipping. I tried to hold on, but it was so hard. I closed my eyes.

It was dark. But it was warm. I felt... safe. In the oddest way, I felt... free. I couldn't see anything, couldn't hear, but I didn't need to. I was safe, protected. Nothing could touch me. And I didn't need to worry. Not anymore.  
>I couldn't see, or hear, of move... what was there to move? But I knew I wasn't alone. There was something else there. Something so much older. Wiser. And there were other things to, smaller things. Things that felt more like me. I had no sense, I just knew. I would have been smiling if I had a body. I felt like I was... home, I decided. I felt like I was home.<p>

I jerked awake with a bang. I gasped, wanting to scream as my headache flared. I was in so much pain. It was so bright, I couldn't see anything.  
>"Hey, it's okay, you're gonna be alright," someone said. I knew that voice.<br>"OWEN FUCKING HARPER, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!" I screamed. I swung my fist up, feeling satisfied when it connected with something soft. He yelped, and wriggled away.  
>"What the bloody-"<br>"SEND ME BACK! I WANT TO GO BACK, SEND ME BACK!" I screamed, banging on the surface below me. It was wood.  
>"Hey! Stop, Lily, STOP!" someone else said. They grabbed me. I looked up,to see Ianto. I stopped flailing, and just sobbed.<br>"Please, I want to go back, please take me back," I begged.  
>"Owen, get a sedative," I heard Jack said. I squirmed, but Ianto held me still. I glared at Owen as he stuck the needle in my arm. Then I felt a lot calmer. I closed my eyes, and drifted off.<p>

I was standing in the body storage room. It was the next day. I had apologized to Owen for giving him a black eye(Though I wasn't remoseful in the least). Jack and Ianto were putting Suzie's body back in storage. I was reminescing, wondering what had happened to Suzie to change her so much.  
>"Thanks for doing this," Jack said.<br>"Part of my job, sir," Ianto said.  
>"No, I should be doing it, but..." he sighed and leaned against the locker. "One day, we're going to run out of space," he said. Ianto looked at him thoughtfully, and then continued writing. Jack turned and walked away.<br>"Oh, Jack?" Ianto called. Jack paused, and turned to look back. "What do you want me to say on the death certificate?" Ianto asked.  
>"Good question," Jack said.<br>"She had quite a few deaths in the end," Ianto said.  
>"I don't know. Death by Torchwood," Jack said.<br>"I'll put a lock on the door, just in case she goes walking again," Ianto said.  
>"Nah, no chance of that. The resurrection days are over, thank God," Jack said. He turned to walk away.<br>I wouldn't be too sure of that," I said. Jack turned to look at me.  
>"Why not?" he asked.<br>"There's a rule with gloves Jack. They always come in pairs," I said. Jack looked back at me for a minute, and I looked away, back at Suzie's body. Jack turned again and walked off.


End file.
